Marcelle Hanselaar 'Open Secrets'

MARCELLE

HANSELAAR

OPEN

SECRETS

Drowning Pool 50 x 40 cm etching / aquatint

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The Genius of the Crowd by Charles Bukowski there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average human being to supply any given army on any given day and the best at murder are those who preach against it and the best at hate are those who preach love and the best at war finally are those who preach peace those who preach god, need god those who preach peace do not have peace those who preach peace do not have love beware the preachers beware the knowers beware those who are always reading books beware those who either detest poverty or are proud of it beware those quick to praise for they need praise in return beware those who are quick to censor they are afraid of what they do not know beware those who seek constant crowds for they are nothing alone beware the average man the average woman beware their love, their love is average seeks average but there is genius in their hatred there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you to kill anybody not wanting solitude not understanding solitude they will attempt to destroy anything that differs from their own not being able to create art they will not understand art they will consider their failure as creators only as a failure of the world not being able to love fully they will believe your love incomplete and then they will hate you and their hatred will be perfect like a shining diamond like a knife like a mountain like a tiger like hemlock their finest art

Loss of Innocence, War 50 x 40 cm etching / aquatint

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Loss of Innocence, Sacrifice 50 x 40 cm etching / aquatint

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“The series ‘Loss of Innocence’ a series 6 large prints.

“The series ‘Loss of Innocence’ is a isseries of 6 of large prints.

Although I often work in series I never to One do so. One drawing Although I often work in series I never set outset to out do so. seems seems to leadtotolead another until the subject mattermatter has been assuaged. drawing to another until the subject has been assuaged.

These etchings are my response to people’s uprising against the stranglehold powerto structures in the Arab Spring and the These etchings of arethe my old response the populaces uprising severethe effect of civil war on ordinary against stranglehold of the old powerpeople. structures in the Arab Spring and the severe effect of civil war on ordinary People need to free themselves and to become their own person, in people. spite of feelings of fear and uncertainty they will be encouraged by a senseneed of elation.

People to free themself to become their own person, in spite of feelings of fear and uncertainty they will be encouraged by a sense of elation.

Whether these struggles are between men and women or the old and the new, the inevitability to lose our innocence is a very emphatic one.”

Whether these struggles are between men and women or the old and the new, the inevitability to lose our innocence is a very emphatic one.”

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Loss of Innocence 3 50 x 40 cm etching / aquatint

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Loss of Innocence 4 50 x 45 cm etching / aquatint

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Loss of Innocence 5 55 x 50 cm etching / aquatint

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Spectators 130 x 110 cm oil on canvas

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“The Theatre of the Absurd. I am fascinated by the phenomena of crowds, how the shift from private to collective behaviour creates a shift of inner boundaries as well. The familiar sense of inner and outer or personal and social responsibilities with its subsequent behaviour shrinks and expands simultaneously and creates, temporarily, a different set of references from which we then function.�

Procession 112 x 97 cm oil on canvas 12

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Adoration in the Wilderness 100 x 77 cm oil on canvas

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Ritual 100 x 77 cm oil on canvas

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Relic 122 x 100 cm oil on canvas

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Protestors 100 x 80 cm oil on canvas

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Who is a Pretty Boy Then 108 x 82 cm oil on canvas

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Child Soldiers 3 100 x 82 cm oil on canvas

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Child Soldier 67 x 56 cm oil on canvas

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White Collar Black Man 66 x 61 cm oil on canvas

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“The idea for the series ‘ White Collar Black Man’ came from a tiny painting ‘Head of a Black Man’ by the 17th Century Dutch artist Govert Flinck, a copy of which hangs in my studio. The portrait shows a well dressed man, obviously someone of standing, wearing the uniform of the civic militia guards. What makes this painting so unusual is that he is portrayed from the back, we cannot see his face.

His stiff white collar, a well known symbol of middle class status seems to not so much enhance him as isolate and restrict him.

The validity and correctness of society ’s rigid rules of acceptability in status or race versus the longing for individual identity are the questions posed in these images.

I made these works in response to the colonialist view that a coloured man was not a person until he was molded in dress, behavior and thinking to resemble a white man.”

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Fighter 100 x 82 cm oil on canvas

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‘ We’re All Bleeding’ is a series of 9 etchings on a, for me, familiar theme, the conflicting awareness and subsequent balance juggle of how we see ourselves and how we appear to others.

Our civilized and socially conformist behaviour is only the tip of iceberg, underneath this ‘cool’ protective mask we inhabit a raw, pulsating and surreal world in which anything is possible.

This awareness of our functioning in parallel universes creates not only a sense of absurdity but also serves as a counterweight to our daily uncertainties and fears.”

Marcelle Hanselaar, 2014

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We’re All Bleeding 1

We’re All Bleeding 2

We’re All Bleeding 3

25 x 20 cm

25 x 20 cm

25 x 20 cm

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

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We’re All Bleeding 4

We’re All Bleeding 5

We’re All Bleeding 6

25 x 20 cm

25 x 20 cm

25 x 20 cm

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

We’re All Bleeding 7

We’re All Bleeding 8

We’re All Bleeding 9

25 x 20 cm

25 x 20 cm

25 x 20 cm

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

etching / aquatint / hand coloured

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Beasts 2 46 x 41 cm oil on canvas

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Beasts 4 70 x 90 cm oil on canvas

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The Civilisers 96 x 122 cm oil on canvas

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Don’t Look Now 80 x 100 cm oil on canvas

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Marcelle Hanselaar was born in the post-war Netherlands and grew up near the North Sea. In the early 60’s she studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague but she found a greater learning curve in the world outside art school till she finally settled down in her studio in central London.

As a painter Hanselaar is entirely self taught, learning her skills through artists friends or studying old and modern masters.

She started out as an abstract painter but over time her imagery developed into raw expressionist figuration. Her work references 17th Century Dutch portrait painting and the Flemish and German expressionists.

In 2000 Hanselaar became interested in etching and learned the basics of printmaking at Morley College. Midnight drawings created a dark world which beautifully suit the etching medium. Her painterly and unconventional subject matter and ways of working has earned her much acclaim.

Hanselaar’s work is included in various collections including the British Museum Prints & Drawings Collection, V&A Prints & Drawings Collection, V&A National Art Library, London; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Sakimi Art Museum, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Engraving, Alijo, Portugal; Guandong Fine Art Museum, China; University of Aberystwyth Print Collection, Wales, The Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Collection and New Hall Art Collection in Cambridge She has also won numerous awards such as the Statutory Awards of Krakow International Print Triennial 2012, The Birgit Skjold Memorial Trust Purchase Award for her Pillow book for Endless nights, first Prize for painting at the Tabernacle Art Competition, University of Wales Purchase Prize and the Presse Papier Award.

Hanselaar shows extensively both nationally and internationally.

She is a member of The London Group.

Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘Open Secrets’ by Marcelle Hanselaar All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers Photography by Irene Roden Publication produced by Impact Printing Services (www.impactprintingservices.co.uk)

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