Delicious Paintings exhibition
The exhibition of Tjalf Sparnaay’s ‘Delicious Paintings’ has been extended until March 1, 2020. The internationally recognized artist marvels the audience with his hyper-realistic paintings of extremely enlarged foodstuffs such as a fried egg or a crispy salad sandwich. The paintings stun and amaze the observer by their extreme precision and craftsmanship. Sparnaay also shows new photographs that – after being exhibited in the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in New York in 2017 – can now be seen in the Netherlands for the first time. The exhibition offers a broad overview of Tjalf Sparnaay’s surprising oeuvre, which is characterized by his original way of looking at everyday things.
About Tjalf Sparnaay
Sparnaay (Haarlem, 1954) distinguishes himself by the extreme magnification of reality and the transfer of an image to canvas with photographic precision. In his paintings he chooses to show only a small part of a much grander concept. In this way he provides a new perspective of everyday life and of the meaning of beauty. The works of Tjalf Sparnaay build on the Dutch tradition of meticulously and realistically painted foodstuffs from the Golden Age. His lucid use of colours and eye for detail and refinement is reminiscent of Vermeer, while the use of light in his paintings refers to the interaction of light and shade in the works of Rembrandt. Delicious Paintings in Museum JAN brings together all these paintings. An exhibition catalogue has been published by Waanders.
New work that has not been shown before: Urban Photography
In addition to his painting, Sparnaay has been working on a photographic oeuvre that is shown in this exhibition for the first time. Beautiful series of photographs were created which, like his paintings, explore the boundaries between painting and photography. An example is the Graffitical Archeology series, featuring meticulously cropped close-ups of the Berlin Wall, which is reminiscent of abstract painting with a deeper historical layering. Sparnaay: “Over the years, I witnessed a dire and gloomy piece of concrete being spray-painted by perhaps a thousand artists. It was transformed into one of the most colourful and liberated places in the world. Photographing this process enabled me to create a new work of art and show it to the world.” The so-called Urban Jungle photographs show the context in which the Urban Photography series were created. Sparnaay photographs rough places where, between abandoned buildings and rusty industrial architecture, he finds quaint gems. The lighting and the play of light and dark in the image create an effect that can also be recognized in Sparnaay’s paintings.
In the Dutch television show ‘Nu te Zien!’ (Exhibited Now), Cathelijne Broers, director of the Hermitage Amsterdam and the Nieuwe Kerk, visits the exhibition Delicious Paintings – Tjalf Sparnaay.