Sobekcis - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Silkscreen print, edition of 50, signed and numbered by the artist, unframed
Destination: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Date: 28 September - 2 October, 2021
Jaunt #077
approx. 27.5"h x 19.75"w, 70cm x 50cm
“Amsterdam is a place very dear to us, as it is the first city we traveled to at the very beginning of our career. Traveling to Amsterdam now, in order to find inspiration, felt like a completely new experience to us. It was exiting to approach Amsterdam from a new perspective and have the opportunity to take inspiration from such a fascinating city. This time we finally had the opportunity to visit the Vincent van Gogh Museum as well as the incredible Stedelijk Museum. We were also lucky enough to visit Amsterdam when the Artzuid Amsterdam sculpture biennale was taking place, with public sculptures from so many different artists on display.
Coming from Belgrade, we are surrounded by massive concrete structures and buildings from the Yugoslavia era. It is also a city where culture and art are not nurtured in the same way as in Amsterdam. It felt special to experience a city where you can visit museums where you can immerse yourself in the history and the art of a country and the city. Walking around the old parts of Amsterdam surrounded by what looks like fairytale like buildings to us was such a calm and welcoming escape of the hustle and bustle of a city like Belgrade.
Inspired by the many interesting outdoor sculptures we came across, we chose to go in the direction of a monumental and sculptural composition in our artwork, mixed in with an aggressive aesthetic. Two of the sculptures we saw were of specific inspiration to us. The first one is Thomas Puckey’s sculpture ‘The Lens Trees’ with its sharp pointed forms, inspiring us to use sharp and bending gestures. Secondly is the sculpture ’45 Degrees Artificial Rock’ by Zhan Wang. The textures from this sculpture inspired us to intertwine the textures with our bold black gestures. For the color palette, we chose an intense orange color to contrast against the light purple. Finally the halftone in the purple color was our way to reference to the lake in the Flevopark, a point of calmness during our trip.”
-Sobekcis