the travels of here and now

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THE TRAVELS OF HERE AND NOW

2019, 19 oils on canvas, painted metallic structure, 572,5 (L) x 280 (W) x 211,5 cm (H).

The Travels of Here and Now departs from the XVIII^thcentury wall-hangings by Jurriaan Andriessen of Museum van Loon; Installed in the Drakensteyn room, they encompass the

whole space, immersing the spectator in a view of their own: we look at scenes taking place on the Mediterranean seashore, while we are actually on the first floor of a typical

XVIIth century canal-house. Numerous secrets and enigmas are concealed behind the ensemble’s unity. Initially painted for the Drakensteyn Castle in Lage Vuursche, their

overall journey, from their initial location to their new home, with the adaptation and thorough restoration that they underwent, offers a myriad of poetical visual stories to tell; they

trigger notions of identity, displacement, estrangement and nostalgia, recurrent in Stéphanie Saadé’s work. Here, she calls back the paintings’ beautiful “ghosts”: all the presently

invisible parts which have been cut out, grafted, overpainted or interchanged, highlighting a rich and fascinating patchwork.
 

Paintings (execution): Niek Hendrix

Structure (conception): Christian Zahr

Structure (execution): Jonas van de Vosse (JVE)

Upcoming artist book designed by Dongyoung Lee, with an essay by Arnisa Zeqo

The project The Travels of Here and Now is supported by the AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts) 

Exhibition views: Museum Van Loon 2019. Photo credit: Gert Jan van Rooij.