Group exhibition in Gallery Alma Blou
Gallery Alma Blou in Curaçao announces a new group exhibition with:
Marjon Wegman – Bert Kienjet – Rien te Hennepe
Saturday, March 25, 2023
19:00-20:30
Gallery Alma Blou
Landhuis Habaai
Opening words by the artists.
The exhibition runs from March 25 to April 15, 2023.
Since gallery owner Lusette Verboom-Fairbairn started her first souvenir store Spanta Para at the wharf in Otrobanda in 1991, she has been selling work by Marjon Wegman. Marjon was born in Curaçao, and although she was still living in the Netherlands then, she was often on the island and one of the suppliers of handmade products for the souvenir store Spanta Para.
After Marjon settled back in Curaçao, she started focusing mainly on mosaics and ceramics. She gets her inspiration from nature, and as a -formerly- avid diver, especially marine nature plays a significant role. In this group exhibition, she shows new ceramic pieces alongside recent work in mosaics. Her oeuvre is playful and colorful, and she has a very personal color palette. She regularly incorporates chunks of natural stone into her pieces but does so ingeniously and only enhances her work.
Bert Kienjet had his first exhibition at Gallery Alma Blou in 2016, with etchings of Curaçao’s whimsical, almost impenetrable vegetation. Bert was born in Leiden and, in the past 25 years, visited Curaçao regularly. The island fascinates Bert not only because of its nature. He is also fascinated by the mix of Dutch, Caribbean, and Latin American cultures.
His series of etchings in the exhibition captures his lockdown experience in 2020. Locked in his hotel room, he observed the deserted streets from his balcony. His prints make us part of this poignant period on our island. The etchings are printed on colored paper in a soft yellow hue. The combination with the dark color of the ink evokes the somber, dramatic atmosphere so characteristic of the period of the pandemic.
Rien te Hennepe is the partner of Marjon Wegman. Rien is a -former- physiotherapist, and with Marjon, he settled in Curaçao in 2002. Like Marjon, he is a lover of nature. When he discovered the stones of the Tafelberg, with their unique color patterns and formations, he found in them a new fascination. He developed as a sculptor with time, and his enthusiasm for the craft has only grown. Through his profession as a physical therapist, his knowledge of the human body helps him in his work as a sculptor. His brain is always busy, and his curiosity and ingenuity keep him developing artistically.
In 2021 Marjon Wegman and Rien te Hennepe partnered up with sculptor Angel de la Rosa for the exhibition ‘Klei, Steen & Hout’
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