RECENSIE EINDEXPOSITIE NAU van Pakscha van Slooten

NAU Alumni 2018
LOODS 6 , Amsterdam

There are some common denominators in this totally nice alumni show of the Utrecht part-time art academy NAU (Nieuwe Academie Utrecht).

For one : it is the rather high quality of the participants themselves and their contagious enthusiasm.

The other is , that there is quite a high “density” in almost all of the works on exhibit, as if the artists wanted to “stuff” their works with as much ingredients as possible -the humoristicly put together “found” garbage-ingredients of Hester van der Heijden- or the found newspaper ingredients of Tineke Weerts, or as with other artists here, just all the found in the back of our mind stuff- , which in some works such as the monumental charcoal drawings of Agatha van Amée work out extremely well.

But you have to search for more silence more space – including Gea van der Zaag underway- in the corner of : Steven van Meurs and Christien Loen , with her beautiful video of just light turning around a human skin… a simple , strong and extremely beautiful image.

Sometimes one could not very well focus on works by the distraction of the lines and corporal presence of the Loods 6 space itself, with it’s darker kind of spot-lighting and all of its pillars and other visual aspects, especially with the work of Gea van der Zaag.

Very interesting I found the images of Susana Mulas Lastra who focuses in on it seems the world of micro-organisms (being a ecologist herself originally); the strong and playful cuddly sculptures of Anita Kremers,playing maybe with male/female cliché’s; and the serene photographs of Kristel ter Beek, portraying our dutch vinex neighbourhoods with a sort of abstract eye and a touch of Edward Hopper’s silent bestrangement.

Intriguing was the more formal research of Marleen Meijer, for example here : “into the essence of blue-ness” in her combinations of drawings, paintings ,installation and video.