description

Peter Struycken

P. Struycken
SIN 25 Apr 87 1987
1987
gemonteerde cibachromes in perspexbaklijsten /
cibachromes mounted in perspex box frames
6 delen / parts
elk / each 20,5 x 114 cm

Detail Description

Colour, place and change are central to P. Struycken's work, in which relationships and processes are visualised. Between 1983 and 1993 he made drawings and photographic works that were always two-dimensional cross-sections computer generated in different three-dimensional colour spaces. Struycken's aim was to represent an 'artificial' reality endowed with the same visual characteristics as everything our environment has to offer. In SIN 25 Apr 87 1987, several consecutive moments of changing colour-relationships are represented, resulting in a work almost ten meters long.

In a photo of a two-dimensional cross-section of a three-dimensional colour space, both the nuance of colours and the location of the colours in the cross-section become visible. The nuance of colour determines the colour character, their position determines the character of the shape.



Peter Struycken (Den Haag, 1939) ranks as one of the most famous and most influential artists in the Netherlands. In 1968, after causing a sensation throughout the decade with geometric-abstract paintings in which form and colour are subjected to systematic processes of transformation, he became one of the pioneers in the use of computers. In the decades since, he has put the staggering developments in computer technology to use in producing artworks that possess, beyond their immense complexity, great visual immediacy and lyric power.

Solo exhibitions of Struycken’s autonomous work have been held in numerous museums including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1966-1967), Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (1967), Groninger Museum (1967, 1984, 2007), Centraal Museum Utrecht (1974), Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven (1974, 1976) Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (1975, 1980-1981), and the Kröller Müller Museum, Otterlo (1977). In addition, his work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad. He created over a hundred works in architecture and public space, such as: a three-dimensional colour structure in the lobby of the Aegon building, The Hague (1983-1986), a computer-controlled ceiling light installation in the large auditorium of the Muziektheater, Amsterdam (1986), a colour installation on panels in all rooms of the Conservatorium in Utrecht (1989-1991), three tile compositions, each circa100 m long, for Woonboulevard Leeuwenstein, Delft (1994-1996), a computer-controlled light installation on the staircase of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (2007), a daylight representation of the colours of paintings with the aid of artificial light, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2009-2017).