Arjan van Helmond: Don't be a stranger
Galerie Juliètte Jongma, Amsterdam
4 September – 9 October 2004
Galerie Juliètte Jongma, located on the Gerard Douplein in Amsterdam's Pijp, opens her doors for the first time on 4 September 2004. The gallery will focus on young international contemporary art in every discipline – art that taps into current discussion and reflects on contemporary discourse.
The opening exhibition is a solo exhibition by Dutch painter ARJAN VAN HELMOND (1971), currently working at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
Arjan van Helmond's work is characterised by strong filmic suspense, loosely referring to the ominous atmospheres present in the works of directors like Alfred Hitchcock. Arjan van Helmond focuses on those moments in a narrative when none of its characters are present; he tries to capture the underlying psychology of a certain location when deserted. His small-format paintings of landscapes, architecture, and interiors all hint at an imminent action, or its opposite: the sudden departure of the imaginary story's protagonists.
An image of an office space containing packed boxes may unfold a story about resignation, or moving, but in the material translation of the applied paint these boxes may at the same time become skyscrapers. A window covered with brownish moisture looks to be crying. Often the objects in Arjan van Helmond's works are open for various interpretations: a hotel bed turns into water on closer inspection, or becomes a book spread open. These subtle changes, from the recognisable into the more freely poetic, are what defines the work of the artist, and what makes the images linger on for a long time. The artist's eye focuses on that moment when time seems suspended, tiny details in our daily life or our memories, images and moments easily forgotten. As if to say that a moment will never return the same way.
GALERIE JULIETTE JONGMA
Gerard Douplein 23, 1073XE Amsterdam
