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Joost
Speet (1948), lives and works in Den Oever - 70 km north of Amsterdam.
Studied at the 'Amsterdamse Grafische School' (graphic
design) and at
the Rietveld Akademie of Art, Amsterdam
"My first works are strong, hand-coloured dry-point etchings
in a figurative style (co-founder of the 'Graphisch Collectief Thoets').
I used Japanese signs in collages and graphics. Journeys through Spain
- Andalucia resulted in the range 'La Tauromaquia' : very bright-coloured,
exuberant pastels and oil-paintings beyond the bullfights.
Searching for a certain form of abstraction without denying the figurative
base I painted the
'Scare-crows' (human figures, reshaped and abstract).
During several journeys in very lively and raw landscapes with canyons,
rocks and waterfalls in the south of France an essential feeling for
renewing resulted in a more personal vision: monumental elements and
a more dramatic use of colours characterize my new paintings; the
landscape changes into an object, an abstract space in which nature
motifs and forms of the human body occur.
In '96 I moved to Den Oever, into a spacious studio - a former military
depot - where I started with sculpture and bronze casting in ' 99.
From the first, more figurative, sculptures I am obsessed by interfering and manupulating natural motives. In the recent works - since 2006 - I try to refer to ideas of thruth and purity without abstracting forms.
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