Ad Dekkers

Replica of a concrete object by Ad Dekkers (1974/2005)

"Zwei Kreise" from Ad Dekkers on the Dutch A12 towards Gouda

Adriaan (Ad) Dekkers (born March 21, 1938 in Nieuwpoort , Netherlands ; † February 27, 1974 in Gorinchem , Netherlands) was a Dutch sculptor and relief artist .

Life

Ad Dekkers studied from 1954 to 1958 at the Academy of Fine Arts and Technical Sciences in Rotterdam . Dekkers was a representative of " beeldend haben uit '60 " (" visual thinking of the 60s "). His art is based on the basic tenets of De Stijl and the Bauhaus , but he used his own colors and his special choice of materials. In the 1960s and 1970s he lived and worked in Gorinchem and Rotterdam.

plant

Dekker's art style is strongly influenced by Piet Mondrian . While he was still working with asymmetrical shapes from 1959 to 1963, he developed a symmetrical language of forms for sculptural work. He published his artistic concept in 1973 under the title Untitled Statement in Flash Art , reprinted in 1996.

Many of his works were so-called “ stages of development ”, relief-like objects, mostly made of polyester , based on the basic geometric figures, for example “ square to the circle ”, “ circle to the square ” or “ double square with cross line ”.

He had his first solo exhibitions in 1966 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and at the Swart Gallery, also in Amsterdam. His art received international attention. He was represented at the Biennale of Christian Art in Salzburg in 1966 , in “White on White” in the same year in the Kunsthalle Bern and in 1967 at the Expo in Montreal and the Biennale in São Paulo . With five of his “ stages of development ” he took part in the 4th documenta 1968 in Kassel . In the 1970s he took part in the Gorinchem sculptor symposium. The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him in 1998 and the Gorcums Museum in 2009 .

literature

Carel Blotkamp: Ad Dekkers. Staatsuitgeverij, ´s-Gravenhage 1981, ISBN 90-12-03765-4 .
Exhibition catalog for the IV. Documenta: IV. Documenta. International exhibition ; Catalog: Volume 1: (Painting and Sculpture); Volume 2: (Graphics / Objects). Kassel 1968.
Harald Kimpel, Karin Stengel: documenta IV 1968 international exhibition - a photographic reconstruction (series of publications in the documenta archive). Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86108-524-9 .

Web links

Commons : Ad Dekkers - collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Ad Dekkers in the catalog of the German National Library
Examples of his works in artnet.de
Examples of his works at the Gorinchem symposium
Ad Dekkers in Artcyclopedia
Materials from and about Ad Dekkers in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie
Materials from and about Ad Dekkers in the documenta archive

Individual evidence

↑ Flash Art. The international art review. Politi, Milano, No. 39, 1973 (February), p. 11. ISSN 0015-3516 .
↑ Kristine Stiles , Peter Selz (Ed.): Theories and documents of contemporary art. A source book of artists' writings. University of California Press, Berkeley 1996, ISBN 0-520-20251-1 , pp. 85-86. Full preview of Google Books , accessed August 6, 2012.

personal data
SURNAME	Dekkers, Ad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Dekkers, Adriaan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 21, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nieuwpoort , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH	February 27, 1974
Place of death	Gorinchem , Netherlands

[1] Flash Art. The international art review. Politi, Milano, No. 39, 1973 (February), p. 11. ISSN 0015-3516 .

[2] Kristine Stiles , Peter Selz (Ed.): Theories and documents of contemporary art. A source book of artists' writings. University of California Press, Berkeley 1996, ISBN 0-520-20251-1 , pp. 85-86. Full preview of Google Books , accessed August 6, 2012.