Joost van den Toorn: Beelden, Morgan Betz: Collages

At the Hoogte Kadijk we like to provide a haven for the singular. Mavericks, outsiders and nonconformists have the ability to make us look at the world from a different perspective. Our last exhibition was a prime example of this. We presented the full range of Lucassen’s singular oeuvre with great success. This is now followed, along those same lines, by our new exhibition featuring sculptures by Joost van den Toorn (1954) and collages by Morgan Betz (1974). We have brought the mavericks Van den Toorn and Betz together in a joint exhibition in order to optimize the sense of contrariness and unease that they provoke.

The sculptures of Joost van den Toorn are sometimes alluring, often heterodox and sometimes downright unsettling. He is not concerned with the achievements of sculpture. With apparent relish, materials like bronze and ceramics are transformed into startling, funny or offensive constructions in which those same materials have long disappeared from view. He takes pleasure in undermining what is considered as a sculptural norm. Van den Toorn shuns the blandly decorative, although his sculptures and ceramic pieces would not be out of place as a nice coffee table centerpiece. They are conversation pieces that question good taste, provoke, that sometimes smile at you and sometimes mock you, and that have been executed with technical perfection. In the Netherlands his work is without equal. His unique position as a heterodox, challenging, humoristic sculptor is exactly why we hold him in such high regard. For this exhibition he has made a new series of controversial sculptures that are among the high points of his oeuvre..

Morgan Betz’s printed and painted constructions on canvas are representations that look like nothing you have seen before. However, they have a flamboyance and clarity that gives them a deceptively pleasant look and that evoke certain associations. Betz is at his most raw and unsettling when he uses the collage technique. His collages are made up of scraps that are found lying around the studio after a painting has been completed, stencils that are then recycled as raw materials. The deliberate process of trying and measuring makes these constructions more angular, less ornamental, more abrupt. By applying this technique Betz succeeds in avoiding the risk of stylization that is always present in his paintings. The one thing he doesn’t want to do is to develop a style, insofar as this can be avoided. These expressive constellations also have a strong spatial component, making it possible for him to access an area somewhere between painting and sculpture. The six collages that are on show are born out of the same mentality as Van den Toorn’s work.

Artworks

Morgan Betz, Untitled, 2016

Morgan Betz, Untitled, 2016

Collage, fabric, charcoal and block printing ink on paper
107.5 x 84.5 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Vier Veren Waterval, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Vier Veren Waterval, 2018

bronze, 73 x 40 x 29 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Ekster Asbak, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Ekster Asbak, 2018

earthenware and corundum, 45 x 39 x 27 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Coffin Cruise, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Coffin Cruise, 2018

earthenware, 18 x 38 x 15 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Everything they say about Abstract Art is True, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Everything they say about Abstract Art is True, 2018

earthenware
47 x 34 x 19 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Soul Boat, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Soul Boat, 2018

earthenware
51 x 33 x 20
Joost van den Toorn, Alabama Blues, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Alabama Blues, 2018

earthenware
63 x 40 x 30 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Ergens in Zwitserland, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Ergens in Zwitserland, 2018

earthenware
28 x 32 x 25 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Entartete Kunst, 2015

Joost van den Toorn, Entartete Kunst, 2015

earthenware
47 x 22 x 20 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Melkkan

Joost van den Toorn, Melkkan

earthenware
33 x 30 x 20 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Hamster House of Horror, 2012

Joost van den Toorn, Hamster House of Horror, 2012

bronze
65 x 37 x 23 cm
Edition of 1 plus 1 AP (AP 1/1)
Joost van den Toorn, Zaandam, 2017

Joost van den Toorn, Zaandam, 2017

bronze
48 x 24 x 24 cm
Edition of 7
Joost van den Toorn, Ju-Ju Hand, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Ju-Ju Hand, 2018

earthenware and fluorite
33 x 25 x 24 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Pamela Anderson met Jojo en Ruby, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Pamela Anderson met Jojo en Ruby, 2018

majolica
Ø43cm
Joost van den Toorn, Carmen Polo Franco, 2017

Joost van den Toorn, Carmen Polo Franco, 2017

majolica
47 x 30 cm
Joost van den Toorn, Pamela Anderson en Jojo, 2018

Joost van den Toorn, Pamela Anderson en Jojo, 2018

majolica
Ø 43cm
Morgan Betz, Breast moon sun cloud and green window, 2018

Morgan Betz, Breast moon sun cloud and green window, 2018

collage and acrylic on cardboard
199 x 119.5 cm
Morgan Betz, Plastic fly heart, 2018

Morgan Betz, Plastic fly heart, 2018

collage and acrylic on cardboard
112 x 88.5 cm
Morgan Betz, Orange hippies, red lips, 2018

Morgan Betz, Orange hippies, red lips, 2018

collage and acrylic on cardboard
93.5 x 65 cm
Morgan Betz, Rainy fence, 2018

Morgan Betz, Rainy fence, 2018

collage and acrylic on cardboard
120 x 79 cm
Morgan Betz, Brick wall curtain sky and dummy guy, 2018

Morgan Betz, Brick wall curtain sky and dummy guy, 2018

collage and acrylic on cardboard
79.5 x 51 cm

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