At De Hallen Haarlem there is a restrospective exhibition about the Dutch artist Daan van Golden (1936). The exhibition is not large and focuses on painting. There is one series of five photographs of pen drawings, but other than that there are no photographs. Besides painting, photography is an import medium in the work of Van Golden. 

Among the works on display are paintings from his Heerenlux series, two so called Pollock studies and early paintings he made during a very productive year when he lived in Tokyo in 1964. During his stay in Tokyo Van Golden moved away from an abstract expressionist style and started painting patterns he copied from wrapping paper or textiles.

In the exhibition there is a piece of wrapping paper on display with the pattern used for the Mitsukoshi paintings that are named after the department store that used the paper for gift wrapping.

Van Golden frequently uses photography as a medium, but even in his other works his approach seems very similar to that of a photographer: he is a brilliant observer who captures images that catch his eye and transforms them into works of art that look absolutely unique and even highly personal. 

The result can be a photograph of the image, or he might even simply frame the object containing the image like a record cover, pages from a scrap book or a piece of plywood with wood nerves resembling birds.

In most cases however he transfers the image onto canvas with the patience of a monk. He used this approach when he lived in Japan in 1964 and returned to it somewhere in the mid eighties after initially giving up painting in 1978 to focus on photography.

Van Golden also reuses themes from his own work. The pattern he uses for the Heerenlux series first appeared in a pencil and ink drawing he made in 1974. His recent beautiful pale blue and white portraits of the profile of Mozart originate from a work he made in 1978.

Often he makes series like the Pollock studies or the Heerenlux paintings. There must be over twenty Heerenlux paintings: all carefully painted patterns derived from the same piece of fabric that has been in his possession at least since 1974.

Although not every aspect of his work is covered in the exhibition, a visit is highly recommended. Van Golden’s work is not exhibited very often. That said, there is currently another Van Golden exhibition in the Wiels museum in Brussels, Belgium. I think the one in Brussels is more substantial, more like the exhibition at the Camden Arts Centre in London in 2008/2009. Click here for a short video about the exhibition Apperception in the Wiels Museum.

All pictures were taken at the exhibition on February 12, 2012.

Daan van Golden, De Hallen Haarlem until March 4, 2012.

Updates

February 24, 2012: some minor textual updates.