Exhibition review: "GLOCAL IMAGES"

It’s not every day that you see artists from Mexico, Holland, Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, Venezuela, Greece, England and India present their work in one space. “GLOCAL IMAGES” exhibition hosted by an art teacher Maryolga Nieto at the American Book Centre in The Hague is a truly international event.

Nieto is a celebrated artist and a published author, who has been actively teaching for the past 19 years. She encourages her students to develop their own voice, allowing them the freedom to truly express themselves. According to Nieto: “Artist should have the ability to go beyond the form”, and one can sense this liberating approach in every artwork displayed at “GLOCAL”.

The exhibition features an incredible diversity of styles, ideas and mediums. At “GLOCAL IMAGES” you will find beautifully dangerous landscape photographs by Gerdinand Wagenaar displayed alongside Vyoma Joshi’s abstract paintings inspired by ethnic Indian motifs.

A sign language interpreter by profession Wagenaar, travels the world helping people to better understand each other. With his photographs Wagenaar captures sublime moments in time, convulsive beauty of nature and quite contemplative moods.

Photography by Gerdinand Wagenaar

His photographs have a distinct minimalist style. By focusing on a certain element of the scenery he is able to reveal it to the fullest.“I didn’t create this beauty, nature did. I was just there and took the photo,” – Gerdinand Wagenaar.

Mystery by Vyoma Joshi, which you can see on the photo below, is a painting which strikes with its transcendental colour composition, as well as subtle incorporation of kalava threads. Kalava is the sacred Hindu thread, which is tied by a priest or an older family member on the wrists of all the people attending the prayer ceremony. Joshi explains that the threads are there for good luck.

Mystery by Vyoma Joshi

Another mysterious painting featured at the exhibition is Secret by Tanja Teufert. “When I painted this piece I felt like I had to hide it, like it was a secret”, says Teufert. Inspiration for her paintings develops out of life experiences or situations, which she feels the urge to bring onto the canvas immediately. Looking at her art gives you a sense of movement and strength, which arises from Teufert’s special technique of using a knife and even her bare hands.

Yarmenta Balogun is presenting an important piece titled “Indonesia” from her series “Humans from my world”. Balogun paints strangers she met on her travels around the world. The harmony of simple life inspires her work.

Indonesia by Yarmenta Balogun

“The most meaningful things in life are the most simple”- says Balogun.

Deborah Murphy’s art is inspired by the outdoors, painting in the wilderness gives her an opportunity to breathe and reflect. Murphy is a life-long artist, writer and photographer. She paints in plein ait in water colour and acrylic and completes studies in pencil sketch, when she is traveling. Painting for Murphy is a meditative immersive experience, which brings her closer to nature.

Donata Kairyte is another bright talent taking part in this unique event. She loves experimenting with various painting techniques, mediums and styles. Vibrating Colours, which you can see below is a very special piece:

“Generally I like to "spend some time" with my paintings, at least 4 days, with short adjournments, and thoughts. But this one is very special for me, as it took just couple of hours to paint - as the emotion was very spontaneous and strong”, says Kairyte.

Don’t miss your chance to see “GLOCAL IMAGES” first hand and learn more. Among others you will discover works by an established impressionist artist Dimitris Voyiazoglou.

“GLOCAL IMAGES” runs until the 12th of December at The Trehut Gallery at the American Book Center at Lange Poten 23, 2511 CM Den Haag.

Mansour Bakhtiar: In search of duality

Outsider, oil on canvas

“When you look into her eyes you can see two different messages.” –Mansour Bakhtiar

Hague-based self-taught painter Mansour Bakhtiar has been painting for 44 years, during which time his style evolved from realism to surrealism. The major theme in his paintings today is a search for duality. Through this theme Bakhtiar is exploring the essential questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? What is our purpose?


The theme of duality takes on many forms in his paintings. The ‘Outsider’ depicts someone with a clearly visible duality. Her striking pose, the cut of her dress and the mesmerising details of the background, do not conceal her duality.



Let’s look at his latest painting, which is still in progress and doesn’t have a title yet. So, I will reference it as ‘Untitled’ for the purposes of this article.


In the ‘Untitled’, Bakhtiar is sitting in the middle of the room painting without a canvas, he is painting his world. A big wall painted in Japanese red is dominating the composition. There are cats and birds present in the painting. They do not hold a symbolic meaning, other than Bakhtiar’s close connection and love for nature.


On one side of the wall we can see scraps of newspapers depicting famous historical figures, Marx, Kennedy, Hussein crumpled in a cage. “We have to learn from history only once. We have to look to the future. We cannot walk towards the future, looking back.”- explains Bakhtiar.


Bakhtiar describes the duality found in the painting as follows: “You can see that I am a prisoner inside of the red wall. But you can also see that the prisoner has a very big space to get out. That is the duality of things: I am closed but on the other side I am free.”


In the middle of the composition, we see the Eve of today; she does not seem happy, yet she is proud and present in her existence. There is a sense of misplacement in the painting: heavy associations and messages are painted with beautiful happy colours.


“This is reality. We make everything beautiful, but everything is not in its place.”


The compositions of Mansour Bakhtiar’s paintings are inspired by his palette of colours. Red has a particular meaning. Red lines in his paintings symbolize the limit, the point of no entry or no exit. We can see the red line in Effort.




Effort, Oil on canvas


The man has a thick wooden head and we can see a trail of birds that died in the attempt to get inside and make a nest. However the man’s body language suggests innocence. It’s yet another manifestation of duality. ‘Fear of loneliness’ is a painting that speaks to our deepest emotions. “We are afraid to be alone, so we play an instrument, we cope, we create.’’ In Bride, Bakhtiar explores the duality in a different manner. We can see a woman right before her wedding; we catch her in a moment of doubt.





Fear of Loneliness


Shades of red are also prominent in the painting No Comment. The woman in the painting doesn’t have a head, she doesn’t have an identity. She only exists in relation to the man, who doesn’t see her as an individual and only cares about her body. Yet, somehow the woman is sitting comfortably in the chair; her posture suggests the mundane unawareness of existence. The contradiction between the normality of her position and her absence creates yet another dimension for duality.


Bride, Oil on Canvas


In essence, Bakhtiar’s search for duality is a quest to undNoerstand human nature with all its contradictions. “We are not just one person”- says Bakhtiar. And indeed our narrative changes with each interaction, we are all the different stories we tell; in a way we are all paintings in progress.






About the artist


Mansour Bakhtiar was born in the Bakhtiari region of Iran 200 km away from Isfahan into a prominent family of Iranian nobility. Due to the turbulent political situation in Iran since the late 1970s, the Bakhtiari family could no longer safely stay in the country. Mansour moved to the Netherlands in 1984. Now he lives and paints in The Hague at his Atelier ‘Incognito’.


Encouraged by his mother, Mansour started painting when he was 15 years old and took on painting professionally in 1981. In 1982, he also became an art teacher. His early works reflect the motifs of the Iranian heritage. Fascinated with the laborious and intricate work of the carpet weavers, Bakhtiar created a series of paintings depicting ornamental Persian carpets. Carpets are still present in his later works, as a connection to his roots. However, his painting style has transformed significantly over the years, influenced, by surrealism and particularly Salvador Dali.


Bakhtiar enjoys living in The Hague, although even after 32 years in the Netherlands, he doesn’t feel quite at home here. “There is a very big distance, between me and the Dutch person. If I say, for example, blue, sometimes I think they are not thinking that blue is blue, they think blue is yellow, that is the feeling I have.”

Anat Ratzabi: Balancing Art, Business and Chocolate.

The Chocolate Sculpture produces pieces that are so beautiful that it puzzles me that someone would actually eat them. “To eat or not to eat, that is the question” jokes Ratzabi. Her unconventional company produces reliefs of Dutch masters in edible chocolate. The reliefs include portraits of Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Girl with a Pearl Earring. Besides being a successful business woman, Ratzabi is an acclaimed artist, whose works are exhibited widely locally and internationally.

The story of her company is one of innovation, creative spirit and great courage. Ratzabi became interested in making art with chocolate because she was fascinated with the potential of chocolate as an art medium. At the same time, she received a commission from a big company for 500 small bronze sculptures. Ratzabi realized that it would be quite expensive to make so many sculptures out of bronze and came up with a fantastic, cost-effective solution – she suggested making the sculptures out of chocolate. “I made the deal for 500 chocolate sculptures before knowing how to make them. But I got started immediately and within weeks I developed the concept of creating sculptures out of chocolate and started the company. Now I make 25 different products!”

Her chocolate sculpture was featured at Madame Tussauds and bought by companies such as Shell and Coco Chanel. Ratzabi is very committed to her work as an artist and as an entrepreneur and she manages to balance it well. Many view art and business as being diametrically opposed, so how does she bridge these two worlds? Ratzabi puts it simply: “There is a mentality in the art world, that what is commercial is not authentic art. I don’t bow down to these kinds of statements; I can be an artist and a business woman. And how do I balance it? I just have to do my best. I think you have to be aware of what you are good at and focus on it. Delegate the rest.”

Ratzabi has partners who help her with the promotion and sales. She is an excellent leader and her business is flourishing. However, art remains the main priority in her life.

Anat Ratzabi, came to the Netherlands from Israel in 1989, at the moment she lives and works in The Hague. Her latest series of self-portraits, sculpted in clay explore the questions of identity. Through her sculptures Ratzabi reflects upon her Yemenite origins. Ratzabi is documenting the way she changed through the influence of different cultures. Ratzabi feels that her life is nomadic in its nature: “I am a guest in life. I accept that everything is temporary; I don’t take things for granted.”

Ratzabi contributes great value to the world with her mesmerizing portraits and installations. To be an artist, for Ratzabi, means that she is completely true to her nature: “I am as close to myself as I can be. When I create I feel alive.”

INVISIBLE COLORS OF NIETO'S ORIGIN & LIGHT SERIES

“To me art is universal magic. It’s like love, it’s for everybody. It connects people immediately; it doesn’t matter where you come from.” Truly, looking at Nieto’s art one feels a connection with one’s self and the world around. The bright colours of her abstract paintings make us see everything as though for the first time. In her unique series ‘Origin and Light’, Nieto employs a radically new technique: she creates abstract images with special invisible paint, which can only be illuminated with UV lights. Magically, a completely white canvas is transformed abruptly into a bright, cosmological landscape right before the spectator’s eyes.




The Hague-based artist, of Venezuelan origin, Maryolga Nieto started her journey in the arts at the age of 7. A precocious talent, her work achieved early recognition and won awards. As a young woman, Nieto studied at the Cheshire Academy in Connecticut and subsequently in New York and Miami. Now, a well-established artist, Nieto has been featured in more than 46 exhibitions in Europe, USA and South America. Her recent work was presented at the Museum of Modern Art in Caracas, Venezuela and the Latin Museum of Amersfoort, Netherlands. Nieto is also a published author of 7 books on folklore, culture and poetry. Her latest book of poetry ‘The Overflown Side’, featuring illustrations by Christopher Courtlandt, was published at the American Book Centre in The Hague last year.


Immense in its scope, Nieto’s portfolio of work includes ceramics, paintings, large scale murals, pottery, tapestry and glass work. However painting has always been her main medium, as she calls it “my main vein”: “If you are an artist and you start doing everything, you get dispersed a little bit, but it’s good to experiment, because it’s part of the intrinsic being of an artist.” While observing the textures, shapes and colours of Nieto’s work, the audience is given a chance to surrender to the realm of the senses. Nieto gives the viewer a space to experience, engage, enjoy and interpret. The observer gains a glimpse into her infinite celebration of life, dissolving in the ocean of light. “I paint to reflect existence, strength, spirituality, flow, interaction. Art and politics are separate for me because once I take a side, I close myself and I’m no longer open to contemplate other interpretations.”


Her paintings are inspired by folkloric art, particularly masks worn during the religious Venezuelan festival called the ‘Dancing Devils of Yare’. The tradition symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. Such is Nieto’s work; it’s a triumph of life over the inertia of the mundane. In one of her books “The Little Devil of Yare”, Nieto features the Devil of Yare as the main character. For Nieto, it is the story of the importance of roots.

Nieto came to the Netherlands in 1997 and decided to stay: “When I first came here, I had my doubts. Will my work be accepted and appreciated here? Will they enjoy such intense colours? But then people enjoyed my work, I was very surprised. I felt very welcome here.” She loves living in The Hague and considers it to be her second home. “We have everything here in the Hague: elegant architecture, beautiful nature and a big international community. The ultimate experience of visiting the Netherlands must be here."