Biennale: Dutch Pavillion Highlights

  This was a perfect exhibition for me. 

  Texture, color, natural elements, fragrance.

  In a word… Sublime.

  The artist, 84 year old Herman De Vries, is representing the Netherlands. His years as a horticulturist and natural scientist are an integral element in this work.

  I loved it all…

  The first piece, as you enter the bright and open space, is the title work, "all works to be to be ways to be to be".

  Large, charred hunks of branches, with that smell of burnt wood..I knew I was going to enjoy this one.

  The next thing I noticed was a very familiar fragrance wafting throughout the entire area. I knew this scent….but it was subtle…organic…and right at that moment, I looked down at this giant circle of thousands and thousands of dried rose buds….

Enough to make the entire pavillion smell wonderful and nostalgic, too.

  Around the corner was a wall/grid of simply framed  works on paper. Lovely as they were, but mind blowing when I read the title of the piece

Please, can we have this one?
I want it in the living room….Sigh.

  There were rocks from around the earth, as well, and they were displayed in such a perfect way.

  I copied this small bit from a review of the artist's work, in general:

  de vries gathers, orders, isolates and displays objects from nature, directing our attention to both the unity and the diversity of the world around us. 

  

  Case in point, this wall covered in all sorts of natural bits of things…crystals, leaves, fronds, soil with dried leaf debris, small stones, shells….A patchwork of our earth's treasures.

  Looking at this now, here in bed early Monday morning with coffee at my side, I also realize that this work appeals to me because of it's "orderliness"…The way things are so neat and tidy. I am so very drawn to this world…It makes me feel calm on many levels.

  The whole exhibit is displayed in this ordered fashion, which I understand is as much a part of it as the subject matter itself..And I love it even more.

  Then there was the wall of grasses. 

  I will have these in my bedroom, and dream of the sounds of the fields in winter….

I wanted Mr. J here for scale.
I know these grasses, and how large they can get...

  This vision, the concept of these grass works…Ahhhh. So simple. So beautiful. So effective.

What is not to love…adore, actually..?

  The display of scythes was a nice touch. All sizes and colors, antiques as well as newer. Well used, it looked like. 

  Interesting contrast in the space.

Perfection.

  Maybe my favorite so far? There is a lot to like this year, for me, anyway.
  Poor Johnny wants more painting…but we still have so much to see.

  More later-