'Schone Schijn' ELLE Decoration 5/2023 pp 93 -108

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'Cool Concrete: Voque Living 2020: Cool concrete: het 'vrijgezellenhuis' van SPRMRKT founder Nelleke Strijkers.

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‘Folding Views 2018’ was the second solo exhibition and showed work that Boorsma made between 2015 and 2018. These works have the same visual language, but in a simplified version. As a result, the paintings breathe peace and depth. His architectural shapes still have a certain robustness, but at the same time something soft and warm. The compositions are more simple in design, but rich in atmosphere due to the harmonious use of color and the nuances in the texture. By a balanced play of light and shadow the painted objects seem to hoover above the canvas. The colours are washed-out and have lost their loudness and show that they have withstood the tooth of time. That gives the images something soft and fragile.

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'Against the Beat' exhibition 2015, Klerkx International Art Management proudly presents the first exhibition of filmmaker and painter Berend Boorsma in the Francis Boeske Projects gallery in Amsterdam-Noord. Semi-abstract geometric objects, painted in rusty ochres and ribbon-shaped strips in various azure blues and mint greens, appear to float in the air to suggest depth and space. Painted between 2013 and 2015, these works will be shown to the public for the first time. Boorsma knows how to tell a story and therefore decided to convert Francis Boeske's white, industrial exhibition space into a cinematic setting for the occasion.

 

Painted objects rendered three-dimensionally as architectural forms or monumental sculptures appear to have been affected by the elements and time. This gives the paintings a subdued, timeless appearance, like the furniture by Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe or Marcel Breuer that is part of the decor. The sensuality of the texture and the intensity of the colors evoke a sense of seduction, luxury and elegance that cannot be escaped. Inevitably, associations with film sets such as those of Tom Ford's 'A Single Man', Wong Kar Wai's 'In the Mood for Love' or Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Blow Up' come to life. Films in which atmosphere and emotions form the basis of the story and seem more important than the plot. Through the suggestive combinations of composition and depth; colour, light and shadow, the paintings evoke an emotion that is amplified and influenced by the space in which they are located. The boundaries between the painted and the surroundings are thus explored. Questions such as: what does the interaction between the painted thing and the environment bring about and to what extent do they influence each other and the viewer, come to mind and make a visit to the exhibition a special experience.

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