www.robbloemendaal.nl on new location

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My website www.robbloemendaal.nl has temporarily moved to this blog, where a selection of my 3 dimensional art work, paintings and drawings can be seen.


In my work are social commitment and closeness to nature reflected. I'm inspired by the relationship between man and nature. Because man himself is also nature, thereby also about the relationship between man and himself. The work resulting from such a narrative character and often includes hidden details. Balance, timing, constraints and opportunities are recurring themes.

Exhibitions:

The n exhibition was a group exhibition of 97 Hengelo artists and designers in the HeArtGallery, Drienerstraat 35, Hengelo. The exhibition runs from March 5 to April 23, 2017. The last exhibition was a group exhibition of 104 Hengelo artists and designers in the new HeArtGallery, Drienerstraat 35, Hengelo. The exhibition runned from March 18 to April 10, 2016.

Jump to Paintings or Drawings (coming soon)

3 dimensional artwork:

Pencil and paper

Potlood en papier   2015   mixed media   30 x 24 cm

This work was made immediextately after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. It was an attack on the freedom of expression and therefore on democracy, which, after all, is rooted in the free word. 

The pencil is painted in the colors of the rainbow, a symbol of tolerance. In addition, in small circles to see the primary colors, which symbolize all the possibilities along with black and white to express yourself.

Heart for trees

This work was carried out with storm wood which became available after the summer storm of 2010. Many trunks were buried upright and put together in the form of a lime tree leaf. Lime trees were traditionally associated with love and fertility. The leaves are heart-shaped.

Heart for trees   2011   wood   3 x 5,5 m

This is a living work. The tree trunks decay and become a breeding ground for new life. Initially arise mosses and mushrooms, later all kind of plants, shrubs and trees. 

There are two slow, opposite movements: the decay is a movement toward the earth, while the emergence of new life is a movement toward the sky. An exercise in patience.

The municipality of Hengelo has been agreed that there is no garden maintenance being committed. Nature must take its course without interference. Thus, over time, a micro reserve emerge with particular plant and animal species. 

Heart for trees was located on the footpath in line with the Heemafstraatje in Hengelo until spring 2016, when it was destroyed by the municiality.

Lighthouse 

Lighthouse   2008   mixed media
38 x 13 x 14 cm

Lighthouse was made for a sales exhibition, which was initiated by the anti-discrimination office Art. 1 Overijssel because of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The proceeds of this exhibition, to which 59 other artists participated, was entirely beneficial to Amnesty International.

For Lighthouse I was inspired by the thoughts that Eleanor Roosevelt spoke in 1958 about where universal human rights begin. According to her they begin in small places, like offices and factories. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning elsewhere. She found that human rights should be borne by the community, even in everyday situations.

Lighthouse is made of a birdhouse, as it was presented to all participants. It has become a combination of a chapel and a drowning cottage. Inside you can see a prism that disperses light when sunlight falls on it. The interior is lined with feathers of free birds. The eight 'pencils' symbolize the community and also refer to the Amnesty International writing campaigns on behalf of prisoners of conscience.

Celldream

Celdream   2005   2,6 x 3,3 x 2,2 m

This installation in one of the cells of the former policestation in Hengelo was based on the poem Celdroom of H. M. van Randwijk, resistance fighter in World War II. 

On one wall of Cell 11 the text "justice shall return' was carved into the wall, which is the last strophe of this poem. The names of 10 women who were victims of injustice and violence were written on the opposite wall. 

On the table stood a metal food bowl with three compartments. Barbed wire and pieces of white quartz in addition lydiet, also called touchstone. Lydiet, a black stone, once was used to determine the purity of gold. On the wall under a small window a large white triangle with silver birds could be seen on their way to the light. The entire floor was covered with a layer of duck down.

Celldream joined the global campaign by Amnesty International against violence against women.

Hoisting the Blue Peter

Hoisting the Blue Peter   1997   mixed media

In the middle of a slender connection between a scale model of the earth and a feather form performed 'Blue Peter' stands a female figure.

A 'Blue Peter' is a flag that was hoisted shortly before the departure of a sailing ship.

Maybe we will be brothers finally

Maybe we will be brothers finally   1997   wood, clay
87 x 126 x 7 cm

This boat-shaped structure is provided with a cigar-shaped element at the top, that is delicately balanced. Under the influence of air currents, this portion is rotatable and may fluctuate up and down. The whole is made in a way that the front part can remain standing on its own as the rear portion is disconnected. 

The front figures are animals, the last one in the rear is human. 

The title is taken from a speech in 1854 from Seattle, an Indian chief of the Dwamish tribe in the northwestern United States.

Note to the travelers 

Note to the travellers 1996 mixed media
height 180 cm  

This work consists of three tree-shaped parts, each constructed from wood and zinc. 

On the wood sinking leaflets are attached bearing the names of successively in the war murdered Jewish children, refugee children that came to the Netherlands and of Dutch children born in the year Chernobyl exploded (1986). 

At its base was put successively lydiet, colored stones and white quartz at its foot. Lydiet is a type of stone that was used in antiquity to measure the purity of gold.