2020 > - Tom S. Hageman

West & East

Studio – Teaching – Engagement – Publications

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East is East and West is West and once the twain shall meet

Saint George in Cappadocia

“Culture is the lifestyle of a society,” according to the writer-sociologist P J Bouman.
Every culture in the world is a different and unique mixture of customs, views, traditions and even emotional attitudes.

“Art is the expression of a society,” according to T S Hageman.
It shows not only the face, but also the soul and character of a culture.

This means that although the cultures of societies around the world differ, they make themselves known in all aspects, including the deeper layers, through art. Art is therefore the entrance to an unfamiliar culture, the shortest route to insight and understanding.

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Studio Oude Boteringestraat

The wealth of cultures in the world offers an overwhelming diversity in artistic approach, from analytical to mystical, from magical to poetic, from realistic to fantastic, and at the same time there are many similarities in goals and meanings…

Dragons

Dragons are found in both the East and West, albeit with very different characters.

Celtic romance – Kupka’s Cenotaph

In Europe they are usually malevolent reptiles that prefer to devour young virgins, but in China they are benevolent, good-luck creatures.

And dragons often have allegorical meaning: as treasure guardians, symbols of eternity, or of sensuality, heroism, and so on.

Chinese chickens

Chinese Chickens I & II

A misty slope, the pavilion at the top is Chinese. The ladies are runaways from the early Renaissance, one instrument is Chinese, the other never existed, nor do the ‘chickens’ depicted

Portraits

Portraits some famous ‘peat area women’ at the request of a museum in Veendam: ‘The Viper Woman’ who wakes up with a caressing viper coiled around her and is not sure whether she is awake yet and ‘The Witch of the Geeselberg’ or the Ku Klux Klan on clogs,

Stefan – Roman – Sander

And also portrays both his sons, Stefan the orientalist and Roman the film director, as well as one of their friends

Vladolf Putler

Putler should never have invaded Ukraine…

During Covid19, the journey goes to its own backyard.

Cappadocia

Then destinations from the past are rediscovered…

A new international arts centre is being set up in Rijswijk, The Netherlands, for exchanges between Asia and Europe of exhibitions, seminars, courses, lectures, Artist in Residence etc: West + East = WE.

Rottum

A decades-old and unfinished project, “The description of the Free State of Rottum” is being picked up again. After all, it contained some nice ideas

The Colossus of Rottum – The Organ Bay

Many ‘inventions’ that were described around 1990 have now become reality, from Artificial Intelligence to self-driving cars. And issues such as alternative energy production and industrial urban construction have now become urgent.

Traffic in Rottum

What is far from being ready in the present day, has long been practice in Rottum: for example, combining investments in energy generation at sea with breeding fields for fish and algae (sea farming); using waste – right down to excrement – as raw materials for industry; using the heat from collective furnaces, crematoria, etc. for district heating; in short, ‘inclusive design’. Admittedly, a few useful inventions like ‘inductive superconductivity’ for transport and ‘photon manipulation’ for holographic 3D communication have yet to be made, but that is only a matter of time.

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classical ART college

During Covid19, an online art academy is set up with 4 courses of 25 lessons each, in which theory is interwoven with practical exercises.

This project, like Covid, has now closed. The offer came down to this:

Composition and expression

Composition is in fact order. This can be done in various ways: the geometric with directions and planes, the dynamic with arcs or spirals, or the musical with rhythms and colors. This is in turn related to different forms of expression and is combined with a course in painting techniques, including elementary knowledge of materials.

“Spatial Illusion”

Plasticism is the apparent bulging of shapes on a flat surface through an arrangement of ‘light and shadow’.

Perspective is the suggestion of depth through optical, atmospheric and geometric perspective respectively, all in a variety of applications from pastel to oil paint.

“The anatomical figure”

In anatomy for artists, the skeleton serves as the foundation, the muscular system and the fat layers create the external shape. Proportion and understanding of the movement mechanism are essential. And of course the anatomical difference between men and women. All this in connection with the history of the beauty ideal and with a drawing technique course.

“Art of the World”

The art history overview combines form with content: what has been made in the last 40,000 years and why, with what backgrounds? It starts in the ancient Stone Age. Then follows the high cultures of Eurasia. Concludes with a global overview of art in the rest of the world.

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Art is the entrance to another culture. Anyone who wants to fathom such a culture should delve into literature, film, visual art, music, etcetera.

Digital globalization has brought all the world’s cultures close to home.
This is therefore the decade of internationalization.
Networks have been built up from Groningen to Xi’an, from Los Angeles to Makassar.

3 Foundations

An umbrella organisation “Classical Art Center”, coordinates the activities of the member organisations: The Classical Salon, International League of Fine Art Schools ILFAS and their partners

Museum

She is also the driving force behind the new meeting place for eastern and western art: the West-East Museum in Rijswijk

WE Museum, Treubstraat 1, Rijswijk

Databases

A global artist database has been built with works by thousands of ‘skill-based’ artists from all countries in the world

www.artistdatabase.org

And a new, national database with overviews of art production, art presentation and art education.

www.kunstdatabase.nl

International exchanges

This internationalization leads to participation in exhibitions in Turkey; New Zealand; Belgium; China; Japan. And to various exchanges.

On the occasion of the hundredth friendship treaty, the Chinese province of Shaanxi is setting up a special museum. ILFAS arranges the contribution from Groningen and Drenthe.

Chinese artists exhibit in the Netherlands and contacts with Japan and Sulawesi, Indonesia follow.

Art policy

Housing corporations want to “repurpose” studio premises in Groningen – and there is already a major shortage. A lobby and all kinds of consultations are being set up with the joint artists’ associations. Accompanied by articles, submissions and manifestos. A symposium on studio policy is organised. At the core is a proposal for a ‘bottom-up’ policy structure for the visual arts: ‘Platform policy set-up‘ The municipal government does not appear to be insensitive to arguments.

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In 2022, the artist group ‘The QuasiRealists’ has been moving ‘along the edges of reality for 10 years’. That is why there is now a book about the members and their unreal works.

Art policy papers

Publication of several policy letters, essays and opinion pieces for and on behalf of the Professional Association of Visual Artists – Professional Organisation of Artists – Artists’ Union – Platform Visual Arts on studio facilities and art policy