Arie de Groot's solo exhibition was the third part of a special collaboration between TENT and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, in which underexposed but iconic Rotterdam artists were central. The series was compiled by curator Noor Mertens of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Arie de Groot (Hendrik Ido Ambacht, 1937 – Rotterdam, 2016) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam in 1959, and then at Ateliers '63 in Haarlem. Over the years, De Groot developed a completely unique idiom, which he worked on in relative seclusion. His oeuvre mainly consists of work on paper, in which he incorporated vulnerable materials such as cardboard and rope. In creating his work, De Groot based himself on traditional folk art, combined with strict geometric basic principles. Intuition, however, always played a major role. His work can be described as more modest than spectacular and thus stands in contrast to many of his contemporaries. Nevertheless, his work expresses a strong emotional involvement and a clear development can be discovered in his oeuvre in which he increasingly allowed himself more freedom and colour became the predominant element. He continuously sought the tension between objectivity and light-hearted playfulness.
The Back Room
This project investigated the position that both institutions take on a local and national level. Being collected by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen serves as a quality stamp on an artist's oeuvre, while a presentation in TENT can function as a springboard for young Rotterdam artists. With this collaboration, TENT and the museum wanted to expose the subjective process of being included in the art canon or not. The artists presented in The Back Room are partly included in the museum collection, but have not always received the attention their work deserved. The Back Room also poses questions about the role and position of the artist: how do you build a reputation and which factors influence possible success?
Paul Beckman, Charly van Rest, Esma Yiğitoğlu
Four solo presentations in TENT focused on Paul Beckman (1946–2000), Arie de Groot (1937-2016), Charly van Rest (1949) in Esma Yiğitoğlu (1944–2009). Their oeuvre is particularly relevant today because the strategies and materials these artists used are related to those of today's younger generation.