A SATURDAY AFTERNOON

last saturday my dear friend kitsa and i went to the groninger museum. after a two hour coffee session in the city (which was pretty short for us) we headed over to the museum. since we both haven't been there in a while we figured, it would be a saturday afternoon well spend. and so it was!

we didn't really know who's work was shown at this time. with no expectations we were going to let us surprise by 'funtastico' and 'natural beauty'. two totally different exhibitions but both right up my alley.

i'm not that good in critiquing art. i find it hard to talk about, let alone write about it. so i'm not going to, but hope to give you a little impression with the pictures i took and the short comments i wrote. maybe giving you an idea on how to spend your next saturday ;)*

*[this is not a sponsored blogpost]

'funtastico' is the first large-scale solo exhibition by jaime hayon. seriously, it's large! his work spoke to me in so many ways; materials, color, shape, concept. i wanted to have everything in his collection. (actually you can buy some pieces in the museum shop).

hayon's tapestries (shown below) are beautiful. the design sketches for these tapestries, that are also displayed, are literally translated in these wall hangings. every stroke from his pen or marker is woven into the tapestry. 'funtastico' ranges all kinds of objects from ceramics, wood, glass, textiles, product, furniture and interior design. yes, it's pretty diverse. and pretty darn good!

1. groninger museum // photo credit groninger museum

2. new york is miami - jaime hayon

3. rocking hot dog - jaime hayon

4. tapestries, wall hangings - jaime hayon

the 'natural beauty' exhibition shows landscapes and still life's from the collection of gustav rau (1922-2002), a german tropical doctor and art collector. this was also a very large exhibition. i thought in both of the exhibitions, groninger museum had really outdone themselves in terms of decor. every wall was painted in a color complementing the art hanging or standing in that room. the only thing i didn't like were the phrases in the 'natural beauty' exhibition (hanging from the ceiling, you can still see a little piece of it in the picture above). the phrases didn't do much for the work that was shown and, i didn't like the font they used.

i have great admiration for the art of painting. i was particularly drawn to the still life's; how one can paint 'light' and the vibrance of the colors that were made and used, the pigmentation, no printer can compete with that. just beautiful!

1. one of the exhibition rooms - natural beauty

2. painting - still life

3. painting - still life