Break it down en

The idea for BREAK IT DOWN came about spontaneously. We will close the art year 2024 with a short show. To make visitors, artists & designers long for iCOON’s art year 2025.
iCOON will reopen in April 2025.

EYE-CATCHER

Special: as an eye-catcher at the entrance, a work by Koos Buster, lent to us by Gallery Vriend van Bavink.

SNEAK PREVIEW 2025

This is the last exhibition of this season, but... a little preview is already being given and you can already take a look at 2025, with space for artist/ceramist Massimo Pavan of Birne Ceramics.

KRISTEL VAN BALLAER

The core of Kristel Van Ballaer's (°1972, Belgium) artistic work consists of transforming forms from nature and architecture. In a slow meditative process, she examines forms that inspire her. She strips them of the superfluous, until a formal perfection reveals itself.

Van Ballaer's work balances on the intersection of 2D and 3D. Painting becomes spatial or vice versa. Shadow and light play an essential role in her research, as does the space in which the work will be presented.

At first glance, her work is minimalistic and refined, but that impression is misleading. Her work is layered. The sensuality and tactility of the finish are striking: layers of paint in different textures create palpable tension - the visibility of the painter's hand. These are processes that take time and are far removed from industrial production.

At its core, she works towards sobriety and shows the vulnerability that characterizes the human hand. Stillness is an essential concept. The artist offers the viewer peace, a salutary counterbalance to the iconoclasm that rages in everyday life. She makes time stand still.

kristelvanballaer.be
Kees Barten

Painting is entering into substances. It is the wonder and delight in their unexpected forms and feelings. The material of which the painting is made is not shown as ‘it doesn’t matter what kind of stuff’, a random substance, but as something that helps determine the form and character of the painting.
The paint surface becomes skin. The paint surface becomes outside and therefore implies inside. Paint stimulates movement, or thought of movement and through that shine feelings and other wordless experiences.

That is why painting is art: not only because it shows us trees and faces and beautiful things, but because paint is a finely tuned antenna, reacting to every unnoticed movement of the painter’s hand, capturing the subtlest shadow of a thought in colour and texture. In that sense, as a painter you not only enter your painting, but the painting also enters you.

keesbarten.com
Thomas & Jurgen

Thomas & Jurgen is a graphic design and artist duo based in Rotterdam. Driven by improvisational methods, they develop their own tools and rules that they apply to create graphic compositions on various surfaces, such as aluminum and glass.

Their approach results in a wide range of work; from murals, prints and installations to video recordings, publications and sculptures. By presenting not only the results, but also the circumstances in which they were created, T&J create still lifes from bygone moments.

thomasenjurgen.nl
Ralph Roelse

Ralph Roelse (b. 1984, Eersel, Netherlands) is a Dutch contemporary artist working in various media, including painting, photography, drawing, collage and video. His work explores themes of metamorphosis, temporality, power and violence, often exploring the interplay between these concepts.

Roelse's creative journey began at the age of 12 when he discovered his passion for graffiti and the ability to express his individuality. He honed his skills at the SintLucas School of Art & Design in Boxtel and later earned a BFA from the Academy of Art & Design AKV St. Joost in Den Bosch, focusing on conceptualism.

Roelse is currently based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and draws inspiration from the industrial landscapes that intersect at the borders of Belgium and Germany. By mixing destruction with painterly expression, he highlights the connection between the primitive and the technological, as well as the digital and the physical.

Roelse’s unique perspective as both an artist and a curator inspired the launch of New Dutch Minimalism. The movement debuted in 2023 with an exhibition at KEVN in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, featuring a series of ten promising Dutch artists embracing minimalism.

ralphroelse.com
LYDIA WIERENGA

Lydia Wierenga studied in Kampen, Vancouver (B.C.) and Utrecht.
She currently lives and works in Groningen.
Her art practice is mainly focused on abstract works, both paintings and murals and work on paper. She has a preference for bright colours and a hard confrontation in line and form, and is especially interested in how these relate to each other and their surroundings.

During the year 2019, Lydia Wierenga painted black A4 sheets around the corner of people's homes throughout the Netherlands. In 2020 she continued this project. Via Instagram she invited artists all over the world to apply her mural in or on a corner in their own home. But now in A6 format; the size of a postcard. All these murals and the artists in question were brought together by Lydia in a book: A6 murals worldwide.

The next step was to start a physical art space: OFF HOOK. In August 2021, OFF HOOK opened its doors: a new art space in Groningen for contemporary art and exhibitions.

lydiawierenga.com
Nieke Lemmens

Order and colour define the work, which is part of The Crossworks, an ongoing series of projects. They are based on the fresco cycle: “The History of the True Cross”, by Piero della Francesca (± 1460; Arezzo, Italy).

For Crosswork lV I provided 100 lids and bottoms of shipping boxes with self-rubbed casein and pigments. The matt paint strongly absorbs the light, which has an intense effect on the experience of colour. The raised edges create an architectural relationship. The moment the viewer moves around them, the colours constantly enter into new relationships, both with each other and with the surrounding space.
The Crossworks have no definitive state or form. They are changeable or in development and are experienced in space as dynamic, connecting systems, in which the viewer is also involved.

niekelemmens.nl
Erik Haemers

"Inspired by architecture, design, fashion, photography..., my artwork is graphical, minimal, analysing + reducing our surroundings, translating to new objects + environments, reacting in situ, exploring light/space, slowly moving from small two dimensional prints to larger three dimensional works + installations."

"I like mixing & switching between analog and digital, exploring the possibilities of industrial technology and using classic materials in a new way, therefor i have no fixed 'style', but try to speak one language as i love design, architecture, photography and other people's art. I like to share my love through making/curating exhibitions e.g. my antwerpartbox project."

erichaemers.com
Lucas Hardonk

In his photographs, Lucas Hardonk produces visual transmutations of reality, inviting viewers to project their memories onto his work and distort their physical context.

“I’ve been drawn to art since I can remember,” he says. “I like to stand in front of something; to wander and be blown away. That’s what I like about art, it has to confront you as a viewer, you have to become part of it. When I was younger, wandering through museums, I always had the idea that I wanted to be the creator of those exhibits. I wanted to have that effect on the viewer that other people had.”

Lucas Hardonk op instagram
Sebastiaan Knot

Sebastiaan Knot, born in 1970 in Groningen, the Netherlands, lives and works in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Knot specializes in creating vibrant geometric abstract works that uniquely challenge the viewer’s perception. Working primarily with light as a medium, Knot has become a shining example in the field, pushing the boundaries of traditional photography and artistic expression.

Knot’s work revolves around the exploration of light and color, with his standout series being “Colliding Colors.” This ongoing project delves into the intricate interplay of light colors and their profound impact on human perception. Knot’s signature style is characterized by a harmonious blend of hues, creating visually stunning compositions that captivate the audience and evoke a heightened awareness of the complexity of color relationships. His work is a testament to his mastery of form, as he consistently strives to unravel the mysteries of color dynamics.

Sebastiaan Knot’s influence extends worldwide, with his works prominently featured in prestigious exhibitions and collections. Notable among these is the exhibition "Vasarely Legacy" in collaboration with Fondation Vasarely in Annet sur Marne, France. Furthermore, Knot's pieces have found a permanent place in the Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and in the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, the United States, in addition to various private collections worldwide. His participation in acclaimed events such as the Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Art Miami in the United States and his work that resonates with both the public and collectors, strengthen Knot's position in the international art scene.

sebastiaanknot.nl
Deconstructie

The line emphasizes, crosses out, marks and connects; it is arguably the shortest connection between two points.

Erris Huigens' minimalist paintings and drawings regularly leave the walls of his studio and can be found, for example, on the record covers of labels Delsin or Metalheadz in the most popular record stores in the world. The explicit proximity to the minimalism of the 1960s in the US or even the concrete art of the 1930s in Europe is immediately visible. Huigens' reduced works can be seen as "visual sampling". He adapts and appropriates the existing material. For example, a shadow on the canvas becomes a subject and a blueprint for other paintings. The recurring line as a subject is also an example. It is used as a tag in graffiti and possibly forms a direct connection with the artist's roots in the subculture.

deconstructie.com
van Vlemmings & Schouten

Vlemmings and Schouten join forces and form a duo for the occasion. They share a passion for minimal language, clear compositions and arranging the component into an image that leaves room for interpretation.

Vlemmings is fascinated by minimal shapes and form language. Form language of objects or body language of people on the move.
Since 2017 she has been working on the projects Kijkdozen, Vormen and Comfortzones, projects that will continue for years to come. Her viewing boxes (kijkdozen) try to give photo viewers a more individual photo experience. The shapes (vormen) enhance or emphasize the experience of a space and comfortzones offer a city dweller an individual place to retreat for a while and relax and enjoy the beauty of the place or city.

Schouten's work is characterized by clear compositions, straight lines and modular components that the artist brings to life in his two- and three-dimensional pieces. Each work stems from the artist's clear ideas about form and color without being dogmatic. Behind the straight lines lies an attitude to life that is absolutely not rigid.

Their occasional duo was created during the art lab ZACHT.

straz.nl & ivoschouten.nl