Jonas Staal

1981, Zwolle, Netherland

New Unions, 2016/2019

Installation, variable dimensions

Acquisition: Gift by the artist

Reference: 05916

Biography

Jonas Staal (Netherlands, 1981) is a visual artist whose work deals with the relation between art, propaganda, and democracy. He is the founder of the artistic and political organization New World Summit (2012–ongoing). Together with Florian Malzacher he co-directs the training camp Training for the Future (2018-ongoing), and with the human rights lawyer Jan Fermon he has initiated the collective action lawsuit Collectivize Facebook (2020-ongoing). With writer and lawyer Radha D’Souza he founded the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (2021-ongoing) and with Laure Prouvost he is co-administrator of the Obscure Union. Exhibition-projects include Art of the Stateless State (Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, 2015), After Europe (State of Concept, Athens, 2016), The Scottish-European Parliament (CCA, Glasgow, 2018) and Museum as Parliament (with the Democratic Self-Administration of Rojava, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2018-ongoing), Extinction Wars (with Radha D’Souza, Gwangju Museum of Art, 2023) and Propaganda Station (Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, 2024). His projects have been exhibited widely at venues such as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, M_HKA in Antwerp, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and the Nam June Paik Art Center in Seoul, as well as the 7th Berlin Biennale, the 31st São Paulo Biennale and the 12th Taipei Biennale. Publications include Steve Bannon: A Propaganda Retrospective (Het Nieuwe Instituut, 2018), Propaganda Art in the 21st Century (The MIT Press, 2019) and Training for the Future Handbook (with co-editor Florian Malzacher, Sternberg Press, 2021). Staal completed his PhD research on propaganda art at the PhDArts program of Leiden University, the Netherlands.

1953, Benthuizen, Netherland

Florence, 1980

Black and white photograph on paper, 16 x 24 cm

Acquisition: Gift

Reference: 03072

1913, Amsterdam, Netherland – 2002, Amsterdam, Netherland

Black Sun, 1951

Oil on paper, 42,5 x 48 cm

Acquisition: Gift

Reference: 01197

Biography

Eugène Brands (January 15, 1913 – January 15, 2002 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter, an early member of the COBRA avant-garde art movement. In 1946, Eugène Brands participated in the group exhibition “Young Painters” in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where a whole room was filled with his work. In 1948 he joined the Experimental Group Holland, and in November 1949 he showcased his artwork in the “International exhibition of experimental art”. Meanwhile, the Experimental Group became one of the founders of the Cobra movement, and he was one of the artists contributing to the founding statement in the group’s art magazine Reflex. However, differences of opinion and disagreements resulted in his departure and he decided to go solo. In the 1950s he was inspired by children’s drawings.

The biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License

Entire entry at wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Brands

1933, Surabaya, Indonesia

Blue Space Segments, 1960

Fiberglass, 60 x 50 cm

Acquisition: Gift

Reference: 01867

1937, The Hague, Netherlands

Print 1, 1967

(Map of 10 prints)

Serigraphy on paper, 59 x 69 cm

Edition: 181/190; inscription: b.l.: 181/190; b.r.: Bonies 67

Acquisition: Gift

Reference: 01832

Biography

Artist Bob Bonies (b. 1937, The Hague) has created a body of work that now spans six decades. Since the 1960s he has been making ‘concrete art’, abstract geometric paintings that have defined the look of abstract art in the Netherlands, and still appear contemporary today. The monochrome planes of colour in his paintings are nothing other than what they appear to be: colour and form.

Source: Kunstmuseum den Haag