slug: "gallery/hedendaags"
translates: "gallery/hedendaags"
lang: en
title: "Hedendaagse kunst: The here and now"
thumbnail: null
description: "From Anderson to Verrier, beautiful artworks from the modern day"
pageCreated: "2020-04-21"
pageUpdated: "2025-04-21"
extends ../gallery.pug
block main
h2
strong(lang="nl") Hedendaagse kunst
small The here and now
ul.gallery
li.framed.portrait
img(src=qua("RockwellNorman.jpg") alt="An artist looks into a mirror while painting a self-portrait")
figcaption
p.artist Norman Rockwell
time (1894–1978, U.S.)
p.title
i Triple Self Portrait
time (1960)
p.details Oil on canvas. Hangs at the
a(href="https://www.nrm.org/") Norman Rockwell Museum
| , Stockbridge, Mass.
p There is nothing art snobs hate more than a talented man who uses his talent to appeal to the people, hence why many seem to hold Norman Rockwell in such a low regard. We will not be engaging in anything of that sort, thank you very much!
p.acquired acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
li.framed.landscape
img(src=qua("NewmanBarnett.jpg") alt="A simple abstract composition of red yellow and blue")
figcaption
p.artist Barnett Newman
time (1905–1970, U.S.)
p.title
i Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue III
time (1967)
p.details Oil on canvas. In the collection of the
a(href="https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/") Stedelijk Museum
| , Amsterdam.
p
| Someone was, apparently, afraid of red, yellow, and blue: in 1986, a vandal
a(href="https://www.volkskrant.nl/cultuur-media/reconstructie-het-bizarre-verhaal-van-who-s-afraid-of-red-yellow-and-blue-iii~b2bb8df2") disfigured the painting with a knife
| . It was “restored” in 1991, but the contractors coarsely applied xylene to Mr Newman's original red pigments, rendering it, in the words of one conservationist, an artwork "lifeless" and "forever destroyed".
p.acquired acquired MMXX.IV.XXI
li.portrait
img(src=qua("StoreyBarron.jpg") alt="A pale, decrepit old man")
figcaption
p.artist Barron Storey
time (b. 1940, U.S.)
p.title
| Portrait of Howard Hughes
time (1976)
p.details Ink on paper. In the collection of the #[a(href="https://npg.si.edu/") National Portrait Gallery], Washington.
p I find the Howard Hughes story fascinating — the myth of the hubris-ridden king, adapted for the modern day — and this portrait, originally done for #[i Time] magazine. captures the bitter decay at the end of his life, the rot in the soul of a man who has seen #[i Ice Station Zebra] two hundred times, perfectly.
p.acquired acquired MMXXV.IV.XXI
li.framed.portrait
img(src=qua("RoweLizzie.jpg") alt="A woman in a frilly dress picks pearls up from the floor")
figcaption
p.artist
a(href="http://lizzierowe.co.uk/Lizzie_Rowe/Statement.html") Lizzie Rowe
|
time (b. 1955, England)
p.title
i Dysphoria
time (1990)
p.details Oil on canvas. Hangs at the
a(href="https://laingartgallery.org.uk/") Laing Gallery
| , Newcastle.
p This painting really speaks to me every time i go back to the Laing — alas, the digital form doesn’t do justice to Ms Rowe’s coarse brushes.
p.acquired acquired MMXX.IV.XXI
li.framed.portrait
img(src=qua("CurrieKen.jpg") alt="The ghost of a dead boy")
figcaption
p.artist Ken Currie
time (b. 1960, Scotland)
p.title
i Shot Boy
time (1998)
p.details Oil on canvas. Hangs at the
a(href="https://laingartgallery.org.uk/") Laing Gallery
| , Newcastle.
p Haunting.
p.acquired acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
li.framed.portrait
img(src=qua("MoralisYiannis.jpg") alt="Geometric shapes form the image of a couple in bed")
figcaption
p.artist Yiannis Moralis
time (1916–2009, Greece)
p.title
i Erotic
time (1998)
p.details Acrylic on canvas. Private collection.
p Whatever do you mean? It’s just some shapes.
p.acquired acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
li.portrait
img(src=qua("Moebius.jpg") alt="Blue and pink buildings tower above the Eiffel Tower in a bright and colourful future, while three figures look on from a balcony")
figcaption
p.artist
a(href="http://moebius.fr/") Mœbius
|
time (1938–2012, France)
p.title
i Paris of the Future
time (2002)
p.details Screen print. Private collection.
p
| Better known as Mœbius, French cartoonist Jean Giraud was a master of the strange and fantastic (and a great inspiration for #[i The Fifth Element], one of my favourite films).
p This poster about sums up his whole ethos — an odd, surreal, but optimistic vision of the far-off future of France.
p.acquired acquired MMXXIII.I.XXVII
li.landscape
video(src=qua("AndersonWes.webm") autoplay loop muted width="1000")
figcaption
p.artist Wes Anderson
time (b. 1969, U.S.)
p.title
i The Grand Budapest Hotel
time (2014)
p.details Film.
p If i could hang any film up on my wall, frame it, and just leave it playing on a loop forever — this would be it. There are #[a(href="/films") films i like more as a whole], but so far as æsthetics are concerned, nothing beats Mr Anderson at his best.
p.acquired acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
li.framed.landscape
img(src=qua("MyersRobert.jpg") alt="A woman in a raincoat walks past an intersection in the nighttime rain")
figcaption
p.artist
a(href="https://www.robertmyersart.com/") Robert Myers
|
time (England)
p.title
i City Lights №2
time (2020)
p.details Oil on canvas. Once hung at the
a(href="https://baltic.art") Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
| , Gateshead.
p It’s funny — the building in the background here doesn’t even exist any more. Cities change, but paintings don’t…
p.acquired acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
li.framed.portrait
img(src=qua("VerrierNoah.jpg") alt="A cinnamon roll")
figcaption
p.artist
a(href="https://www.noahverrier.com/") Noah Verrier
|
time (b. 1979, U.S.)
p.title
i Cinnamon Roll
time (2020)
p.details Oil on canvas. Private collection.
p Glad to see a modern artist carrying on the tradition of still lives.
p.acquired acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
li.landscape
img(src=qua("Midjourney.jpg") alt="A golden portal opens in the middle of an elaborately decorated orientalist ballroom")
figcaption
p.artist Jason M. Allen
time (b. 1983, U.S.)
|
span(style="font-weight: normal") and
|
a(href="https://www.midjourney.com") Midjourney
|
time (b. 2022, Cyberspace)
p.title
i(lang="fr") Théâtre d’opéra spatial
|
time (2022)
p.details Image diffusion.
p When i first added this work to the gallery, it came with a spiel about all the potential i saw in the nascent form of machine-learning art — for the first time, man could conjure up images straight from the æther of the akashic records, no mediation through pen or brush needed! Alas, since then, it all seems to have been squandered.
p Rather than leaning into what makes diffusion unique, the strange lumps and inconsistencies that mark an image as computer-made, the tendency has to been to sandpaper it all off, converging on a pale imitation of the human. Tinkering around with the model itself is too often off-limits, the whole process piped through a server farm somewhere in California.
p Still, i have hope. Very occasionally, rather than gooning or generic slop, someone will do something genuinely interesting, toying around with the possibilities of seeing what lies where in our collective memory’s latent space, or forcing the computer to attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible. Mayhaps the medium will find its footing yet.
p.acquired acquired MMXXIII.I.XXVII
li.portrait
img(src=qua("OttenFemmy.png") alt="A bronze statue of a three-armed Hermaphroditos")
figcaption
p.artist
a(href="https://femmyotten.nl/") Femmy Otten
|
time (b. 1981, the Netherlands)
p.title
i And Life is Over There
time (2017)
p.details Bronze statue. Stands along Kalvermarkt, The Hague.
p
| I began this gallery with a depiction of
span.theonym Hermaphroditos
| , and it seems fitting to end it with one. No longer confined to comedic frescos in the houses of the ultra-rich, They now stand proudly in the middle of a busy Den Haag street.
p And yet, despite all the strides in progress, it’s hard to shake the feeling that one day, it might again all come crumbling down. A transphobic backlash from religious bigots? Might its subject fall afoul of “progressive” purists? Time will tell. For now, we can only hope that the long arc of history will continue to trend, as it always has, towards freedom.
p.acquired acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
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