Left to right: Fendry Ekel, Century 21, Entrance, 2006, acrylic and gouache on paper, 101 x 68.3 inches framed; Century 21, The End, 2006, acrylic and gouache on paper, 73.5 x 53.6 inches framed. Folkert de Jong, Last Boogie Woogie (bench), 2007, Styrofoam, polyurethane foam, 33 x 112 x 115 inches overall; Last Boogie Woogie (model) 2007, polyurethane foam, 27.6 z 27.6 x 3.9 inches.
The exhibition CHRONIC: Handmade Nightmares in Red, Yellow & Blue features the work of three artists who live and work in Amsterdam. Fendry Ekel, Dylan Graham, and Folkert de Jong grew up respectively in Indonesia, New Zealand, and The Netherlands — three countries each with its specific history.
At the beginning of their careers the three artists experimented with multimedia such as installation, performance and video; however, today each works in a specific medium. Ekel explores the ability of architectonic creations to yield memory in his large-scale paintings on paper. Graham produces intricate cut-paper silhouettes depicting dramatic global events with both a personal and historical perspective. De Jong’s sculptural installations combine materials like Styrofoam, Poly-urethane, and silicone rubber to express his fascination with questions concerning death and destruction.
“CHRONIC is a very individual and intense reflection of reality in the dark side of thought. It can be considered a metaphor for our mental experience of the social and political current situation, which is omnipresent through the media. Whereas Folkert De Jong is interested in the strains this situation imposes on the individual with all implicated consequences, Fendry Ekel concentrates on the possible causes of it. The work of Dylan Graham constantly moves critically between these two aspects.” Astrid Honold, Curator
Fendry Ekel (b. 1971, Jakarta), Dylan Graham (b. 1972, Aotearoa), Folkert de Jong (b. 1972, Alkmaar) share their education, which all of them received in Amsterdam at the Rietveld Academy and later at the Rijksakademie. Folkert de Jong currently has a sculptural installation at the Lever House Lobby in NY thru Feb 28th and currenty has a solo show at Peres Projects Berlin and later in 2007 at James Cohan Gallery NY. Dylan Graham recently had solo shows at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca and the Vleeshal Museum, Middelburg in the Netherlands, and has an upcoming ISCP Residency in NY. Fendry Ekel will be exhibiting in the US for the first time and has an upcoming show at Museum Dhondt Dhaenens in Belgium. In 2000 the curator Astrid Honold (b. Germany) founded the Space For Artists Foundation together with de Jong and Ekel in Amsterdam. Honold has been with Droog Design since 1998, and is responsible for the yearly presentation at the prestigious design fair Salone Del Mobile in Milan and is currently in charge of droog’s world travelling exhibitions, Simply droog and A Human Touch. CHRONIC will travel to the Museum Dhondt Daenen in Ghent, Belgium October 2007. Funding provided by the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam and the Dutch Consulate, New York and Chicago.
