The Other Eye - Retort Art Space - Amsterdam

Karin Bos, Snowstorm 2, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, 2011

Retort Art Space has two special guests in November and December: Karin Bos and Erik Wuthrich. The two artists from Amsterdam have been invited to step out of their daily routine and create new work at Retort Art Space. Through finding inspiration within their own, familiar surroundings they become hometown tourists.

Painter Karin Bos departs with works from 'A trip to the countryside', a series that she made during several artist-in-residencies in the Netherlands and abroad. During her working period at Retort Art Space she will focus on Amsterdam as a source of inspiration. 

More information, visit: http://www.retortartspace.nl/emails/persbericht/the-other-eye
Read our diary here: The Other Eye Diary

Treegirls

T R E E G I R L S

 

Karin Bos, Treegirls 5, oil on canvas, 100 x 130 cm, 2016, private collection, the Netherlands

Karin Bos, Treehugging 3, mixed media on paper, 27 x 24 cm, 2019

The screenprint Watching the silver night sky by Karin Bos is nominated for the BAS Print Award 2011. It is part of a whole series of Boommeisjes: tree girls, men in trees, etc. It varies from oil on canvas, to screenprint on paper, to a mixture of media on paper.

Karin Bos, Watching the silver night sky, screenprint, 35 x 45 cm, 2011, private collection, the Netherlands

Karin Bos, Boommeisje 2, acrylics on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011

Karin Bos, Tree girl, screenprint and watercolour on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011, private collection, the Netherlands

Karin Bos, treegirl (small version), 35 x 14 cm, 2011

Karin Bos, Boommeisje (treegirl), oil on canvas, 110 x 45 cm, 2010

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0, screenprint, watercolour, gouache, pencil on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011-2012. #1
Collection Bonnefanten Museum Provinciale Kunstuitleen Limburg

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0, screenprint, watercolour, gouache on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011-2012. #4

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0, screenprint, watercolour, gouache, pencil on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011-2012. #2

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0, screenprint, watercolour, gouache, pencil on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011-2012. #3
Collection Bonnefanten Museum Provinciale Kunstuitleen Limburg

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0, screenprint, watercolour, gouache, pencil on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011-2012. #5

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0, screenprint, watercolour, gouache, pencil on paper, 2011-2012. small version: 35 x 15 cm
Collection Bonnefanten Museum Provinciale Kunstuitleen Limburg

Karin Bos, Tree girl series, screenprint and watercolour on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011

Karin Bos, Boommannetje (Tree man), oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm, 2006

Karin Bos, Omne ignotum pro magnifico, oil on canvas, 140 x 140 cm, 1998, private collection, the Netherlands

Karin Bos, Treehugging, screenprint on paper, 76 x 56 cm, 1998

Karin Bos, Come, mixed media on paper, 30 x 30 cm, 2012

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0,#6, 2011/12

Karin Bos, Jungle boys, oil on canvas, 100 x 130 cm, 2019

 

Karin Bos, from the treegirl screenprint series 2.0, screenprint, watercolour, gouache, 2011-2017.

Karin Bos, Treegirls 4, olieverf op doek, 40 x 50 cm, 2015

Karin Bos, Treegirls 3, oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm, 2014, collection DELA, the Netherlands

Karin Bos, De filosoof, screenprint and gouache on paper, 35 x 45 cm, 2011

The Dutch painter Karin Bos by Ken Pratt

Essay by Ken Pratt written for the SUGAR & SPICE exhibition at VEGAS Gallery in London in 2007.

The Dutch painter Karin Bos fixes her artistic gaze on girlhood and adolescence. In her paintings, she taps into a kind of reality that is often written out of the official versions whether they be the critical feminist view of young girls as victims of social conditioning or the protests of compliant women that they are, indeed, feminine and ladylike.

In her vision, we are confronted with aggressive tomboyish moments in girls who appear to be conforming to the dress codes of sexy teenagers or the ugly troll-like temper of infants that have been made up for a traditional portrait.

In Bos’ work, the political relates far more to the Netherlandish painting tradition of trying to capture a moment of observed “truthfulness” than it does to received feminist doctrine or critique. The feminism here is largely about giving visibility to what, although we all know about it from listening in on girl’s conversations is airbrushed out of the magazine representations or historically painted out of the depictions of women. This is not the confrontational imagery of the “real” female body in opposition to the idealized media representations. It is instead, the presentation of “real” female behaviour that is removed from representations. These are teenage girls that spit in the street and fart in public; little girls that might readily bite your hand rather than say cute things in wispy little voices. Or, they may simply be girls -unselfconsciously and secretly observed- getting on with pretty traditional “female” activities such as in a painting of girls practicing ballet on a roof top.

Karin Bos, 3 girls dancing on a roof, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, 2005

In effect, taken as a whole, Bos appears to appealing for a holistic view of female behaviour, neither editing out the things that challenge nor reinforce the stereotype, perhaps with a fascination about how, exactly, girls make the transition through girlhood to young womanhood negotiating the full gamut of social and biological factors.

She does not, however, do so in a way that seems documentary. On the contrary, the painting is not naturalistic and makes use of a number of intuitive and humourous devices that bring a surrealist sensibility at times but also act to focus the viewer’s attention on what she has observed as a kind of “truthful” moment. In “Happy Hunting”, for example, her two trendy chicks, armed with guns and wearing antlers –almost in a parody of the traditional Playboy “bunnygirl”- are at once nubile prey for hunters but, most certainly, simultaneously far more dangerous than Bambi. The work stands as a good example of the discussion that seems to be at the heart of Bos’ practice: this is not the angry cry of protest at the bad treatment of young women at the hands of patriarchal structures but a humourous recognition that young women, even if they have moments of uncertainty, actually have robust strategies for dealing with the contemporary world.

Karin Bos, Happy hunting, mixed media on paper, 56 x 76 cm, 2006

Opening SHE ME at Stedelijk Museum Zwolle

Some snapshots I made during the opening of the SHE ME exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Zwolle on May 8 2011.

Five of my works in a row. Next to Dindi van der Hoek and in front on the floor there's work by the Belgian artist Carmen de Vos.

At the entrance of the exhibition there's my Feel Good # 1.

Feel Good # 2

Feel Good #6

Feel Good #3

Feel Good #7

Here's my "Do not touch" next to my "Heksenkring".

The pluche animals in front of my Feel Good painting are made by Lidy Jacobs.

The work on the left of mine is made by Karin Arink and on the right are photographs by Diana Blok.

The figures next to my Feel Good painting are made by Silvia B.

SHE ME tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Zwolle

Op 8 mei opent de groepstentoonstelling SHE ME in het Stedelijk Museum Zwolle, waarin Karin Bos met 12 werken vertegenwoordigd is.
In een tijd waarin mannelijk en vrouwelijk steeds lastiger te definiëren begrippen zijn, lijkt de zoektocht naar identiteit actueler dan ooit. SHE ME is een tentoonstelling waarin hedendaagse vrouwelijke kunstenaars werk tonen met onderwerpen die raken aan mode, gender, seksualiteit, verleidelijkheid, gevaar en kracht.

Silvia B., Nan Goldin, Wafae Ahalouch, Lidy Jacobs, Risk Hazekamp, Dinie Besems, Karin Arink, Diana Blok, Karin Bos, Shirin Neshat, Kate Burckhart zijn in deze tentoonstelling vertegenwoordigd naast een uitgebreid filmprogramma met Marina Ambromovic, Lydia Schouten, Keren Cytter en vele anderen.
Adres: Stedelijk Museum Zwolle, Melkmarkt 41, Zwolle, tel. 038 421 46 50. De opening is op zondag 8 mei 2011 om 15 uur. De tentoonstelling duurt t/m 18 september 2011.

Karin Bos, This could be your fridge

Karin Bos, Demolition girl, (private collection, the Netherlands)

Karin Bos, Heksenkring

Karin Bos, Happy hunting

Karin Bos, Fairyqueen

Karin Bos, Do not touch (Private collection Dusseldorf, Germany)

Karin Bos, Copycat girl

Karin Bos, Feel good 7

Karin Bos, Feel good 6

Karin Bos, Feel good 3

Karin Bos, Feel good 2

Karin Bos, Feel good 1

In het werk van Karin Bos staat de mens centraal. Haar hoofdpersonen zijn meestal meisjes of vrouwen. Soms hebben die vrouwen gezelschap, vaak zijn ze alleen, maar ook in de werken waar maar één persoon op voorkomt is de aanwezigheid van anderen voelbaar.
Machtsverhoudingen binnen die relaties intrigeren Bos, tussen man en vrouw, volwassene en kind, of tussen kinderen onderling, waarbij groepsvorming versus de eenling een rol speelt. Daar waar het streven naar harmonie mislukt, waar het wringt en schuurt, daar wordt het interessant voor Karin Bos.
In haar wereld is niemand onschuldig, ook de kinderen niet. Ze voeren geheimzinnige rituelen uit, en vormen kongsi’s tegen de vijandige buitenwereld. Ze belagen niet alleen volwassenen, maar ook elkaar. De dreiging van geweld en verwijzingen naar seksualiteit rijmen niet met het heersende beeld van ‘onschuldige meisjes’ en zorgen voor een onderhuidse spanning in het werk dat tegenstrijdige gevoelens en associaties oproept.
Zo wordt een sexy 'bunny girl' vergezeld door de tekst “Do not touch” in braille. Haar personages zijn krachtig én kwetsbaar, en dat intrigeert.
Compassie en relativering gaan hand in hand met een ondertoon van tragiek, de tragiek van het menselijk tekort. Haar werk gaat over het verlangen naar zuiverheid en puurheid, in de wetenschap dat puurheid kwetsbaar is en maar van korte duur.
De gelaagdheid die haar schilderijen veelal bepaalt, is ook aanwezig in de 'Feel Good' serie die bestaat uit manshoge portretten van ouders die hun pasgeboren baby’s laten zien. De schilderijen staan haaks op de veel ingetogener Madonna-moeders die we van oudsher gewend zijn in de schilderkunst. De baby's worden niet beschermend tegen het lichaam gehouden maar hoog boven het hoofd opgetild. Als ware trofeeën worden ze aan de wereld getoond.