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MARGRIET SMULDERSThe artistCurled around the borders of my note pads when I was a school girl. And thousands of roses were cut out from my mother’s gardening books. At the Academy of Arts, flowers as large as life were painted on my canvasses. There were always flowers. They flourished in the self-portraits of the eighties and grew bigger in the flower wallpapers made in the nineties. You can see a whole world in my flowers. Lush and strangely erotic tableaux entice you into another dimension. Huge mirrors, elaborate glass vases, rich draperies, fruit and cut blooms are used to make these 'paintings'. As Baudelaire says “Get drunk: on wine, poetry or virtue”. Imagine lingering and languishing in these fresh, sultry and lucid landscapes. I love this sensual state. To lose myself, to deliver myself as in a love affair. Reality doesn't matter. When making photos I get lost in the scenes as if the flowers were caressing me in the gulfs of the sea. Kienholz, Sherman and the Dutch painters of the seventeenth century were my masters when making a series of my life as a young woman and mother. These self portraits showed my family life as an embarrassed, querulous paradise: less than perfect. In these theatrical scenes flowers were used as a backdrop. Gradually when making commissioned portraits I began to see people as flowers. Later the floral paintings of the 17th century, the works of Pollock and Kiefer, the strong scenes of Pipilotti Rist and the seductive work of Bettina Rheims would inspire me. In 1999 an exhibition on voluptuous Dutch floral still-lives of our Golden Age was in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. At that time I began to 'paint' floral still-life compositions with the help of a mirror, so that the total looked richer, more generous and more highly scented, with purple irises, ragged orange tulips and crumpled lips of full-blown petals that appear to be moving in the rippled waters. The effect is like looking into a clear pond, where rivulets of pure water descend from glacial protrusions. But not all of the flowers are immaculate or in pristine condition, suggesting that something potentially nasty could take place, as in Greek mythology, which is replete with instances of fratricide and revenge. Insects, frogs, drops of blood and red juice on pallid blooms make the photographs slightly sinister. Darkness gives them an unknown and mysterious depth. In these theatres not only domestic scenes but the whole world with its relationships and dramas is played out by flowers as actors. Biography1955 Born in Bussum, the Netherlands Education1983 Social Studies, University of Nijmegen Selected collectionsABN AMRO Artcollection, Amsterdam Solo exhibitions (a selection)2008 Galerie Nouvelles Images, 's-Gravenhage 2006 pAn Amsterdam , with Galerie Arti Capelli, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2005 ParisPhoto with Flatland Gallery 2004 Flowers and Fishes, Galerie Arti Capelli, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2003 Galerie Nouvelles Images, ‘s-Gravenhage 2002 Galerie Arti Capelli, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2001 Out of the Cocoon, ecological Tasarsilk in India, New Delhi, India 2000 Voluptuous Floral Still Lifes, Galerie Oele, Amsterdam 1999 Out of the Cocoon, ecological Tasarsilk in India, Museum 1998 75 portraits for the 75th anniversary of the University of Nijmegen 1997 Museum Henriëtte Polak, Zutphen 1996 Flatland Gallery, Utrecht 1995 Suzanne Biederberg Gallery, Amsterdam 1994 Photogallery Wien, Vienna 1991 Den Tempel, Centre for Photography, Sittard 1990 The Limerick City Gallery, Dublin 1989 Canon Image Centre, Amsterdam 1987 Gallery Pennings, Eindhoven 1986 Goem Gallery, Nijmegen Group exhibitions (a selection)2007 Tuin, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Flevoland, Almere 2006 Paris Photo, with Flatland Gallery 2005 pAn Amsterdam , with Arti Capelli 2004 Rétoricas del Trabajo, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Malaga 2003 Flowers, Wetering Gallery, Amsterdam 2002 Paris Photo, Galerie Pennings, Eindhoven 2000 Flowers of the New Age, Noord Brabants Museum, ‘s Hertogenbosch 1998 Flowers in Art, Sonsbeek Art & Design, Arnhem 1997 Angelus Novus, The Heart Gallery, Paris 1996 Vier Künstler aus den Niederlanden , Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn 1994 Who's looking at the family? Barbican Art Centre, London 1992 Meesterlijk gedekt, Jan Cunen Centre, Oss 1990 The Limerick City Gallery, Dublin 1989 Different voices, different rooms, Artis, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 1988 The self portrait, Commanderie van Sint Jan, Nijmegen |
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