Herman de Vries
Alkmaar, Netherlands
1 Works exhibited on Kooness
Current location
Eschenau, Germany
Represented by
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Works by Herman de Vries
Herman de Vries is a Dutch artist and one of the internationally crucial figures of European art in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Alkmaar, Holland (1931), since 1954 he has worked on mobiles, collage, monochromes, assuming an important role early on in the Dutch group nul and the international movement zero, also through intense activities as a writer and experimental publisher, as in the case of his magazine integration. Since his debut in the international movement zero, in the 1950s and 1960s, de vries has constantly worked on an idea of essential, elementary compositional and operative expression, trying to recreate the fundamental mechanisms of life through the artistic action. In his work marked across the decades by an extraordinarily inventive range of solutions and materic and linguistic experiments, art, science and philosophy are constantly put into relation with each other and the reality of the world.
He categorises his paintings as 'informal'. Using no figuration or colour, the paintings are his first steps towards randomness as a principle of the order. This principle aims to achieve absolute objectivity, and has had a central role throughout his artistic career. Currently, his art focuses on the disrupted relation between humanity and nature. In 2015, herman de vries exhibited his work at the LVI Biennale of Venice (exhibition curated by Cees de Boer e Colin Huizing) and impressed the jury that selected him in the first place.
He typically stylises his name in lower-case as herman de vries on his artwork 'to avoid hierarchy'. de vries works and lives with his wife Susanne in Eschenau near Knetzgau, Germany.
Solo shows
2018
ultimate free, BorzoGallery, Amsterdam
herman de vries: all all all, Cortesi Gallery, Milan
2017
herman de vries. the return of beauty. Curated by Francesca Pola, Cortesi Gallery, London
herman de vries : different & identic, CONRADS, Düsseldorf
2015
Dutch Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice
2012
herman de vries "everything is all ways significant for all", CONRADS, Düsseldorf
2001
herman de vries : journale, CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany
1996
herman de vries : works from el hierro, CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany
1995
herman de vries : from earth, CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany
1993
herman de vries: 108 livres de fleur lavande, CONRADS, Düsseldorf
Group shows
2019
Group Show, Cortesi Gallery, Lugano
Summer Guests: DE VRIES | VAN OFEN | VERMEERSCH, Ludorff, Duesseldorf
Relief: a new perspective in post-war art, Cortesi Gallery, London
Four visions on the landscape, Galerie Wit, Wageningen
2018
Light and Movement in European Post-War Art, Cortesi Gallery, London
2017
Personal Structures: Open Borders, ECC Collection, Venice
2016
Unterwegs – On Journeys, CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany
2015
À bout de souffle, Cortesi Gallery, Lugano
Personal Structures 2015: Crossing Borders, ECC Collection, Venice
2014
Choices. Large Scale, CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany
2011
Personal Structures 2011, ECC Collection, Venice
2002
samesame, CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany
1999
The Secret Life of Plants, CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany
Fair booths
2019
Zucker Art Books at Art Basel 2019, Zucker Art Books
2018
Zucker Art Books at Art Basel 2018, Zucker Art Books
2017
CONRADS at Art Cologne 2017, CONRADS
2016
Borzo Gallery at Art Basel 2016, BorzoGallery
Herman de Vries was awarded the Gerhard Altenbourg Price 2019