herman de vries - sales exhibition (may 24 to june 27, 2025)

I walk therefore I am - from random objectivations to natural relations

In addition to the major retrospective exhibition in the Rijks Museum Twenthe, by herman de vries, which will open on 23 May and will last until November this year, Bert Kuipers Kunsthandel in Enschede will be showing works by the old master from his studio in Eschenau.

On 7 May I visited herman and together we made a selection from the available work. On the shelves we discovered a now rare ‘random objectivation’, number ‘v72 – 155’, one of the last from the white series he made in 1972. In addition to the paintings with artefacts from nature, we also selected an embossed print from that period and an informal work from 1959.

These three paintings that will be on display in the exhibition provide insight into the connection between the early abstract work and that from after 1975, in which it is striking how consistently the arrangement of formal elements from nature has been continued. The selected smaller museum objects and paintings are, in accordance with the artist's wishes, very affordably priced for a broad audience, beautifully framed, ready for the wall in the living room.

The sales exhibition will last from 24 May to 27 June and will be on display for a number of weeks after the summer recess. Opening: Saturday 24 May at 2:00 PM. The art dealership is located at Lonnekerspoorlaan 104 within walking distance of the Rijks Museum Twenthe in Roombeek in Enschede. Both exhibitions can therefore easily be visited in one day.

For more information or to make an appointment, please send an email to [email protected]

herman signs a ‘random objectivation

The work of herman de vries from the sixties is often characterised by the core concepts of the international zero and zero movement; seriality, neutrality, strict order, often expressed in random compositions of white. In 1961 he wrote in ‘nul = 0’ that art in this movement is a representation of a reality that has always existed, that the works of art have no relationship with their maker and that these works are nothing other than what they are; ‘nothing’. Everything is unity, happens simultaneously, statically and without contradictions.

part 1 of triptych ‘cortonea ster de feuille feu’ from 2006

In 1975 de vries says goodbye to his old work. Nature begins to outdo his art. Random objectivations become natural relations. Why the meaningless abstraction of zero, when the best model of reality turns out to be reality itself. In nature everything also happens simultaneously, there are no contradictions and there is no hierarchy. Consequently herman de vries writes his name without capital letters.

random objectivation v72-155 from 1972

 random composition without title from 2021

In his autobiography ‘bron’, a voluminous book without capital letters, herman explains how his works are created in the Steigerwald, his studio of two hundred square kilometers that will gradually expand to half the world. With the old ordering principles of ‘zero’ and ‘zero’ and through philosophical and botanical research, he makes the coherence of things in their endless variations clear.

Earth is rubbed out, tree trunks placed in a golden frame, blades of grass clamped between glass plates, tree leaves systematically arranged in series. Nature becomes a sanctuary. ‘Ambulo ergo sum’, I walk therefore I am. The eye always flows and components from the ever-retracting become poetic artifacts; the truth of what is.

at the kitchen table with Susanne