Pieter Engels
Pieter Engels (born December 3, 1938 in Rosmalen ( 's-Hertogenbosch ), Netherlands ; lives and works in Amsterdam ) is a Dutch object and concept artist .
life and work
Pieter Engels was born in Rosmalen near 's-Hertogenbosch in 1938. Until 1962 he mainly created monochrome paintings. Later he began to create objects, also mostly in one color.
He doesn't call himself an artist, but rather a " recreator-animator ". His art is a provocation and parody of the established art world, which he rejects as a consumer world.
In 1964 he founded the ' Engels Products Organization ' ( EPO ), which organized annual product fairs at which, for example, he presented pointless, unusable furniture. In 1967 he invented ENIO ( Engels New Interment Organization ; " Engels New Burial Organization ") as a concept name for numerous objects and actions.
" What's wrong with funerals - why this blackness - why this sadness - why this madness of crying ... Some of our options: Transparent, luxurious coffins in our new funeral colors and completely perfumed ... "
ENIO's campaigns were set up like promotional sales events (“ Our funerals are beautiful and luxurious - like our prices ”); for example, he presented a “ project for an electrical suicide device (male) ” and a “ project for a electrical erotic suicide device (female) ”. With his campaigns ' Engels Third Institute ' and the ' Engels Genesis Foundation ', sawing through furniture and producing “ bad books ”, Pieter Engels made critical and ironic contributions to the artistic establishment in the spirit of the rebellious 1960s and 1970s.
“ The time of the work of art as a unique piece has expired. Art has become part of the economy, mass production and consumer society. "
Pieter Engel's work received international attention. Among other things, he was represented in 1967 at the 5th Biennale of Young Artists in Paris and with some objects in 1968 at the 4th documenta in Kassel .
Important exhibitions
(Selection)
- 1967: 5th Biennial of Young Artists, Paris
- 1968: 4th documenta , Kassel
- 1987: Verover het Beeld, over natuur en hun bronnen - Stadsgalerij Heerlen
- 1995: Album: The photographic collection of Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen Rotterdam - Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
- 1997: Nabeelden van de oude meesters - Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam
- 2004: Dear ICC - Aspects of contemporary art in Belgium 1970-1985 - Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (MuHKA), Antwerp
- 2007: Rompecabeza - de Vishal - ruimte voor beeldende kunst, Haarlem
- 2008: les ateliers de rennes - Musée des Beaux-Arts , Rennes
Literature and Sources
- Exhibition catalog for the IV. Documenta: IV. Documenta. International exhibition ; Catalog: Volume 1: (Painting and Sculpture); Volume 2: (Graphics / Objects); Kassel 1968
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Engels, Pieter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Engels, Piet |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 3, 1938 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rosmalen ( 's-Hertogenbosch ), Netherlands |