Saskia Boelsums, Landscape #138, 2020
The retrospective exhibition Saskia Boelsums – Love for landscape shows picturesque landscapes, photographed and edited by artist Saskia Boelsums (1960, Amstelveen).
‘Everything comes together in my landscapes - the things I like, the things I have learned, the things I am passionate about,' the artist explains.
Love for landscape
In her artworks, Boelsums creates her own reality. She takes pictures of landscapes that fascinate her and then spends weeks, sometimes months, working on them. Pixel by pixel.
Her method of manual post-processing evokes an atmosphere that is perceived as both picturesque and poetic. She does not show an objectively perceivable reality, but rather an impressionistic and personal experience. In her works, she builds on the art-historical painting tradition of romanticised and impetuous landscapes, such as the watercolours of Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch, the cloudscapes of John Constable and the paintings of the Barbizon School.
Saskia Boelsums, Landscape #42, 2019
Landscapes around Amstelveen
Especially for this exhibition, Saskia Boelsums created a series of landscapes in the surroundings of Amstelveen. In addition to landmarks such as the spires of the St. Urbanuskerk or the monumental gateway to the Wester-Amstel country estate, the works also provide universal images of the Dutch landscape featuring dramatic cloudscapes.
Saskia Boelsums
After graduating from the Minerva Academy in Groningen, Boelsums mainly created 3D installations, often together with writer/visual artist Peter Veen. From 2013 onwards, she has focused entirely on photography. Through still lifes and portraits, which are also shown in Love for landscape, she 'ended up' outside, as it were.
Boelsums grew up partly in Iran and Curaçao, and the Netherlands became a kind of 'promised land'. Following in the footsteps of Jan Wolkers, who first immersed himself in nature and then started painting, Boelsums also wanted to translate her 'outdoor feeling' into her art. Photography enabled her to shape the Dutch landscape to her own taste.