With paint 2: Klaas Kloosterboer. The rules and the game
Past exhibition
Klaas Kloosterboer (Zuid- en Noord-Schermer, 1959) makes art to create space. His works are the result of actions – the game – that he performs according to the conditions set – the rules – in his studio. The rules and the game brings together more than thirty of his works: from paintings with well-placed blobs of paint to assemblages of boxes and other objects trouvés, and from polka-dot paintings to video works in which Kloosterboer records his actions in the studio.
Decisive
Kloosterboer’s works are the result of decisive actions that are preceded by a long process of creating conditions: formulating rules, setting up the studio, arranging materials. The lengthy thought process is just as important as the decision to create a work with a single deliberate act. And what it all comes down to: every action must be concise and correct, because every choice means excluding other possibilities. By consistently acting resolutely, Kloosterboer has developed a multifaceted oeuvre of lucid works of art.
Klaas Kloosterboer, The rules and the game, 2022
Klaas Kloosterboer, The rules and the game, 2022
Juggler
As a painter, Kloosterboer is aware that he is part of a centuries-old tradition and that with every new work he once again relates to the work of his predecessors. In his curiosity to see things from a different perspective, he constantly seeks new ways to approach painting: from the appropriation of existing objects (boxes) or patterns (polka-dots) to the declaration of rules or the photographic documentation of an action. Without being too certain – because ‘certainty limits the scope for thinking and acting’ – he goes to work like a juggler, deciding in a split second how to catch the ball and throw it back into the air. And he knows: when the juggler is indecisive he will fail, drop the ball and the game will be over.
Klaas Kloosterboer. The rules and the game is the second exhibition in the series With paint. In this series the Kröller-Müller Museum presents the work of contemporary painters who deliberately reflect on the art-historical tradition in their work. Steven Aalders (Middelburg, 1959) inaugurated the series in 2021-2022 with the exhibition Seasons. Klaas Kloosterboer will be followed by José Heerkens (Heeswijk-Dinther, 1950) and Paul Drissen (Oirsbeek, 1963). The exhibition is accompanied by a publication with a text by Camiel van Winkel and designed by Irma Boom.
