De collectie “Beware of the Dog” registreert voornamelijk navrante signalen uit de samenleving en bestaat grotendeels uit gesjabloneerd spuitwerk op pakkarton.
Het vergankelijke matriaal en de vluchtige techniek staan in grimmig contrast met de indringende beelden.
De eigentijdse discipline van de spuitbus en de actuele voorstellingen sluiten weer nauw bij elkaar aan.
Hazenberg raakte gefascineerd door sjabloon omdat de techniek het beeld op zijn essentie terugwerpt zonder het gerief van lijn, structuur, schaduwnuances en andere dankbare middelen waar de kunstenaar als gepassioneerd tekenaar altijd gebruik van heeft gemaakt.
Bij voorkeur wordt hier in slechts twee tonen een zorgvuldig ontwerp gemaakt waar een minimum aan informatie nét dat beeld moet opleveren dat de kern raakt.
“Het ontwerpen en uitsnijden van sjabloon vereist behendigheid maar de spuitbus is eigenzinnig.Die onvoorspelbaarheid houdt mij wakker, de verrassing van de haperingen, de onverwacht scherpe contour of de welkome schrale partij, bijna sfumato soms.Het moet het haastige, strafbare karakter behouden, dan blijft ook het avontuur erin.
Het reproductieve element dat sjabloon per definitie kenmerkt vind ik niet zo interessant. Meestal gooi ik de gesneden mallen na gebruik weg.”
The collection “Beware of the Dog” registers predominantly distressing signals coming from society in spray can on cardboard.
The fleeting material and the fast technique of the aerosol form a disturbing contrast to the uncomfortable images.
The contemporary discipline and the current scenes however match closely together.
Hazenberg became fascinated by the templates because the approach throws the image back to its essence, stripped of the convenience of the line, structure, shadow and other gratitudes as used in the “comfortable” drawing technique.
These images are carefully composed with a minimum of information and in one color.
“Designing and cutting a template requires skill, but the aerosol has a mind of its own. The hitches, the sudden sharp edges or the diffuse parts like sfumato sometimes.The quirky unpredictability keeps me awake.
I like the hasty nature of (illegal) spraying and running away.
That guarantees the adventure. I rarely apply the designs more than once”.
The world according to Pien Hazenberg
The art jumps at you from the walls. The images seem to be attacking us. Bush’s face in camouflage-colours, Wilders’ sneer, the dark eyes of Verdonk, the back of Pim Fortuyns head and the piercing stare of Condoleezza Rice.
This is the world according to Pien Hazenberg, the Hague artist who never ceases to amaze. In the late eighties she amazed the city with the first art-tram. The vehicle moved through the city as a baroque decor piece. In the year 1999 she gave us her vision of the fin-de-siécle with distinctive works, like a portrait of prince Willem-Alexander made out of pieces of chewing gum.
Now Hazenberg achieves an unparalleled directness, not just by the subjects, but also by the method and materials. She worked on old pieces of cardboard with spray-paint using templates. The results give us a series of piercing icons of our time under the title of “Beware of the Dog”. As brief and fleeting as the medium is, so oppressive and permanent in the message. We live in times where talking has made place for barking, where the dogs are set loose when a stranger trespasses your property, a dog eat dog world. At the same time the dog may also be Hazenberg herself, letting herself be heard. Who knows? The exhibition hall is one big indictment, against violence, arrogance, superficiality and maybe even against our royal house. For what are we to think about the big wal , portraying the profile of our queen, as she is looking away from the distinctive skull of Pim (Fortuyn), and the head of Theo (van Gogh)? The queen remained silent. Should she not have said something to her subjects while the nation stood appalled amongst the corpses?
This message suddenly puts another piece in a new light. Nieuwe Kerk Delft 2 shows us a portrait of our queen, her sons and daughter in law, profoundly distressed as they enter the tomb where moments before, their husband, father and father in law was put to rest. The Dutch displayed a bulk of sympathy, they did.
An indictment against the human species, the species that not only kills it’s own kind, but also often victimises the good, is Taken from life. John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, John Lennon, Sadat, Indira Gandhi, Olof Palme, Rajif Gandhi, Gianni Versace, Pim, Anna Lindh and Theo, an unsettling list.
With the exhibition comes an excellently manufactured large sized catalogue, with which printer Ando and photographer Piet Gispen show their excellence.
Herman Rosenberg
