Stories by st-Art

Art

Frans Hals: the Everlasting Avant-Gardist

Frans Hals, a painter who met a humble end in the late 17th century, only to be rediscovered in the 19th century, now draws almost half a million tickets in advance sales at Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam. With his nearly 200 works, Hals is a portrait maestro. That’s it. Van Gogh thought so too. His technique is simple, but with playful brushstrokes on a palette of a few colors – art on a modest scale. But what sets him apart from other artists of his time, is his deep understanding of the specific Dutch environment he portrayed. His success lies in the warmth he depicted in various ways. It’s a warmth that resonates with the realities of the modern world. His signature expressions are smiles and laughter. People in his paintings smile, some subtly, while others burst into hearty laughter. Yet, these simple gestures are vibrant, radiating instant energy. Even the wealthy characters, those thirsty for glory, weighed down by their powerful clothing, crack a smile.           Frans Hals: A Modern Figure of his time But who exactly was Frans Hals, really? Do we even know what he looked like? Apparently, throughout his work, he was found […]

Art Events

Bloom into Spring with our Flower Press Ceramics Workshop

Discover the beauty of flower-pressed ceramics in this hands-on workshop! Over two captivating hours, you'll learn to create a unique hand-built plate using dried blooms and other natural elements. Whether you're a beginner or seasoned artist, Lorena will guide you step-by-step as you explore this enchanting decorative technique.

Art Events

Portrait Drawing Masterclass: explore lines, shapes and expression

I’ll guide you through some basics of creating a portrait using pencil and some other additional materials. What is really important for you to learn is to observe and pay attention while drawing someone’s portrait. As an academically trained painter I spent countless hours improving my portrait drawing skills, which I will be very happy to share with you. Knowledge has no meaning, if it’s no shared.

Art

That’s Life – Annet van Belkom

In her newest series, That’s Life, Annet draws inspiration from the song ‘That’s Life’ by ‘Scorz’ to express the idea of life happening in cycles. The introduction of the electronic music track is accompanied by a beautiful story about life and reflects on the idea of who we are as humans and the continuity of life and it’s cycles. From a young age, Annet’s passions were music and painting, but as she started to adult, life took over and made her follow a different path. Three years ago, life forced her to take a step back and gave her passions a chance to step back in. She started painting and felt a deep sense of rest and meditation during her painting hours. The painting took her out of her mind, and, as she explains, it makes her feel like a ‘cocoon’ where she just ‘is.’ Music played a significant role in her life, too, as she was trained in classical music. Annet is very passionate about music and how it makes people feel. Most of the time she listens to music when she is painting, and in her newest series she tries to visualize her own interpretation of the songs […]

Art

Eliza De Geus | The Quest of Being Through Art and Philosophy

About Eliza De Geus an Emerging Artist Eliza De Geus was born in Jarocin in Poland in 1989. Raised in the Netherlands and still based in Amsterdam, Eliza has an enduring passion that internally moves her to look for concepts and inspirations that will help her understand the deeper dynamics of existence and eventually offer profound messages to the external world. Creative Research Eliza graduated in Tax Law, but at the same time, she was always drawn toward creative outlets. After her law dissertation, while Eliza worked as an accounting firm intern, she also attended acting classes. She received a scholarship for a one-year college in acting in New York and decided to take this chance to develop herself creatively, which was life-changing. The time spent in New York implied creativity as the key to finding herself. She felt a revived passion when she returned to Amsterdam. Her path naturally led her to start making art as a self-taught, an urge she did not examine and instead found herself immersed in it. As she was looking for a space to explore and sharpen her creative skills, Eliza finally ended up in st-Art Amsterdam. St-Art Amsterdam and The Philosopher’s series It’s […]

Art

St-Art Project building for Artists: From Concept to Sale

In the art scene, so many talents still need to be exploited, who still need to receive a fair chance to show their ability without giving up on mediocrity and hopelessness. From this topic comes the idea of introducing a program to work and productively develop the artists’ talent throughout the artistic cycle: from concept to sales. The project building for artists represents the core of st-Art vision. It embodies st-Art’s idea to curate, guide, and develop artists during their path. In other words, to have a crucial contribution to the artistic growth of talented artists. How st-Art’s project contributes to the artist’s growth? At st-Art, we appreciate and value the established talent and the potential one, the one yet to be expressed. Artists, especially emerging ones, can benefit from the possibility of being actively curated by competent and passionate people, the st-Art curators. To do this, we have introduced the project development for artists, in which we follow precise steps: 1. Analyze and comment on the artist’s existing artworks. 2. Understand the style the artist wants to adopt and the result he wishes to obtain 3. Dig inside the artist’s brain and subconscious to comprehend the message he wants […]

Art Events

Vrije Vogels

Art Interviews

Noah Latif Lamp through time

Today there is such a variety of different artists in the visual art scenery, so many diverse personalities with their own complexity, all bringing different attributes and expression to the art world. The ones I love the most are those who above all designate knowledge and experimentation as the main guideline for their artistic development. This category of artist is continuously seeking for a new creative epiphany, they continue to elevate themselves artistically and socially, and set no boundaries to accomplish it. When the epiphany happens and it looks like they have found a productive peace, a creative lay-back moment, this is when they start again – looking for new challenges. Noah Latif Lamp embodies every aspect and nuance of the artist I have described above and, in my opinion, that any contemporary artist should exemplify. I met Noah a few years ago in Amsterdam and I have soon enough become obsessed with his talent and his huge capability to experiment and to challenge himself continuously and regardless of the huge appreciation he is already getting from the art world. Noah has the colossal virtue of having never been afraid of becoming an avantgarde and risking to be ignored due […]

Art

Influence of pop art in American Culture

Pop Art originated in England with the “Independent Group” in the 1950s, based on industrial iconography, science fiction, light posters and some works by Francis Bacon. At the same time, it was accepted in the United States, settling precisely in New York as art proper to the society of the time which, with a great promotional montage, imposed it as a historical mandate, as the individual’s need to reaffirm its objectivity in this new mass society. Pop art in the United States captures an important part of the urban consumerist sphere, the product of a society in expansion within the “American Dream” and the “American Way of Life”, promoted by the media in constant development in the reproduction and dissemination of advertising images. Pop artists, in reality, document what they see around them, with its lights and shadows. It is, no more and no less, the plastic manifestation of a culture that is characterized by various factors such as dizzying consumption, technology, leisure, consumption, fashions, democracy… Everything manufactured, packaged and ready to be sold. As I opened fire, Roy Lichtenstein  It gave rise to a particular culture whose content can be easily perceived, which some critics of the time describe […]

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African Art

It would not be an exaggeration to label as “pretentious” the attempt to write all that is African art in a single article, especially if we understand that Africa is an immense continent, whose extension is three times that of Europe. There are more than 1,300 languages and more than 5,000 indigenous groups spread over 10 ethnic groups and 90 countries. Each of these has its peculiarities and its authentic way of expressing itself in art. That is why, in this space, where we respect and admire artistic diversity, we will make it clear that the present is an approach to some generalities of visual art from Africa. With this, we hope to motivate the avid reader and genuine art lover to continue delving into African Art. The encomienda becomes even more cumbersome because, under Western methodology and theory, which is ultimately the hegemonic, African art has been less explored than that of other regions. Explaining this phenomenon under Eurocentric thought and its concept of “fine arts” has led many writings to limit themselves to talking only about some elements. These elements are the popular masks, figurative sculptures, and the colors and shades that repeatedly appear in African art. We […]

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A year in review: Art in the Time of Covid-19

In a way, it is impossible to deny that for some time, art had always been a somewhat underrated medium: science, politics, and other matters seemed to be more relevant. Fortunately, times have changed a lot since then. Also, there is a before and after of art in the time of Covid-19. The pandemic showed us the importance of art on health, economic, social, and politics. People discussed the possibility of the government using COVID-19 as a weapon to control and manage the population. For this reason, we now hear words like “art will save us all,” alluding to the rebelliousness of artists who are not silent about it. Always defiant to tragedies of all kinds, like the Spaniards with flamenco when they defied Francoism; art in the time of Covid-19 has its way of transcending into history. Noted; most people who commented are not artists. Today, more than ever, art became a medium more respected, sought after, and consumed by the masses. Many have even decided to dabble in art as a means of unburdening themselves amid the COVID-19 quarantine. Mural by Austin Zucchini-Fowler Art reflects the concerns and worries of a generation and those of the personal and […]

Art

Art Exhibition – Memories From Materials by Krisztina Czika

Experience Brand New artworks that express memories on materials that at the same time tell you a story. Join the st-Art curators and Hungarian artist Krisztina Czika for FREE at the Cut-Throat’s brand new De-Pijp location to experience her artworks. Who is Krisztina Czika? Krisztina studied and lived in Budapest.In Budapest, she trained at the fashion and trade school of crafts, clothing, and textiles. She then concluded her studies at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Her recent exhibitions include “Between lockdowns,” Big art 2020 in Zaandam, “Beauty Lunch” at Buro Imaginaire, Bank in Hungary, and the group show “The Space Makers” at Galerie Pouloeuff in Naarden. She experimented with many different kinds of physical materials, focused not solely on their observable characteristics but equally on the stories and emotions they carried within them. This material fascination and continuous research have influenced both the focus and the form of Krisztina’s subsequent art and conceptual design work. The art exhibition “Memories from materials” is inspired by Krisztina’s tremendous capability to explore, identify and reuse a particular object, substance, or material. For example, the series of photographs printed on concrete “Between lockdowns” results from the artist finding the negatives of some photos […]