Time Flies - El tiempo vuela - Expo 2011
Kees de Waal - the storyteller of our time
by Drs. Edith Deutman
The art
The work of Kees de Waal, with its relentless commentary about the times in which we live, has captured a stable position in the wide offering of today’s art world.
From the moment Kees shows his colorful drawings and etchings, the viewer is engaged because the spectator recognizes his or her own limitations and experiences embedded in the work.
Indeed, this unique communication explains the following that Kees de Waal has with a large and varied public. The figurative work he shows is not fashionable; nor does it belong to any trend or "avant garde" art; but it endures because it turns in on itself, like the ebb and flow of time itself.
The man
Kees, born in 1922 in Bussum, the Netherlands, under the constellation of Gemini, has been standing for a long time with one leg in the fashion world and with the other leg in the art world.
In both worlds he has been successful by his great creativity and zest for work. As a young man, after graduating from the Higher School for Textiles in Enschede, the Netherlands, he followed textile design at the Art Academy in Arnhem. The school honored him with a solo exhibition in 2010; over sixty years after attending there.
His early academic training focused on etching and lithography techniques. Later, he studied with Dries van den Broek in Center Masereel in Turnhout, Belgium.
After transferring his fashion chain to his son in 1985, Kees became a full-time artist.
The Amsterdam gallery owner and etching teacher Paul Hillebrand recognized Kees' talent and hosted many exhibitions in the Spieling Gallery for over twenty years. It was here, in this canal house gallery, near the Rijksmuseum, that Kees built a great following of admirers and collectors of his work.
To this day, most of the patrons who own his work have several pieces collected over the years. It is a subtle attraction, yet indelible fascination, with Kees' work that people are drawn to again and again.
Kees is a workaholic. He creates about 100 works each year; painting, printing, etching, linoleum, wood and solar printing. He maintains an active exhibition schedule exhibiting not only showing regularly in Holland, but also in the United States, Belgium, France and in Latin American countries. Recently his work was exhibited in Hong Kong and in China. The artwork, like the man and his ideas, circulate around the world.
The style
Kees de Waal works in unique way.
While he calls himself a printer, he is not Iimited by printing. He uses a mixed-media technique combining printing with painting, drawing and collage giving him much stylistic freedom.
He usually prints his etchings on hand-made paper, and then hand colors the prints with watercolor and pencil. Yet each piece is unique. Often pastel, pencil or ink find their way into the works. Most notably, Kees uses collage as an artistic medium.
For instance, he manipulates old music, maritime charts, antique cashbooks or defunt stock shares onto the print. Kees usually adds a catchy phrase pr insightful thought (usually in English) to complete the work. The end result is a treasure trove of ideas embedded in what started out as a simple print.
In the course of time, Kees has created a portfolio of noteworthy series with his artwork.
Most of his subjects relate to various aspects of his life. In the late 1980s, nature played a dominant role including his fascination with birds. Living on the river Vecht in Holland, Kees envisioned the freedom birds held.
In 1995 when Kees moved to the United States, his artwork showed the vibrancy of city life. Following that series camne another body of work reflecting on the "peace, light, and space" of living near Long Island Sound. Incorporating old sea charts, this series was called "The Sailor's Logbook." Next came the very popular series titled "The Inca Logbook" in which the dualism of the Latin American world, characterized by Aztec and ancient Peruvian beliefs, took shape.
Influenced by his charity work organized in eight different South American countries since 1985, some call this series Kees' most successful and intriguing. It is in these prints that Kees combined his first-hand knowledge of different cultures with a special affinity to the past. He incorporated detailed drawings of mythical beings with sixteenth century Spanish ledger books.
Most notably, in his work "Free as a Bird, Cool as a Fish," the viewer sees a mixture of a bird and a fish with a human head. This anthropomorphizing is a stand-in for human feeling. In this case, the work deals with the suffering of humans and animals mixed with a spark of hope for change.
Kees de Waal is a "do-er." He is realistic and sometimes moralizing but always has plenty of ideas full of fantasy and fun. The viewer or spectator of Kees' art will discover that the message of his art is not always cheerful. Often, a cynical view is presented with Kees' keen observation of human nature. Indeed, Kees shows us both sides of the story. The sunny side always shows the shadow; life and death or love and hate.
This clever dichotomy is particularly evident in the print "In Every Family There is a Sun and a Moon" which shows a sun who thinks he is the moon and a moon who thinks he is the sun.
During his daily walk along the Connecticut coast of Long Island Sound, Kees collects his ideas. He transforms these ideas into drawings while back in his studio.
In "Music is like the Ocean, it Can Speak without Words," the viewer sees a man playing a guitar in a boat that is floating on a transparent blue sea full of fish.
In "Trash; the Birds of the Future," paper trash flying around takes on the form of flocks of birds. Here Kees criticizes the careless way human beings are dealing with trash.
Music also plays as an important source of inspiration for Kees. His tastes range from classical compositions to jazz tunes to contemporary composers.
Not handicapped by his eighty-eight years, Kees de Waal is working daily; drawing, etching, and painting.
Like a Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) of today, Kees takes note of the world in which we live.
In "Father Time," Kees shows an old man with a scythe cutting stock market shares and German banknotes from 1932. It is a telling reminder of the times in which we live.
Over time, Kees has become more contemplative in his work. He takes flight like a bird and observes all the world's happenings. Kees sees and records everything his fellow man is capable of doing.
For Kees, good health and time are the most important things to him. He compares himself to one of his works "We are All Here on Borrowed Time."
Kees de Waal will go on, no doubt, to surprise his public. When he is asked "what kind of work are you making now?" his answer is always the same: "I have more ideas than time."
"Time Flies" will be his new exhibition in 2011.
