Dutch artist Menno Baars exhibits his work in Suriname from December 16-19 at De Hal, Grote Combéweg 45.
Menno Baars is a Dutch cardiologist who is most recognized worldwide as a visual artist.
He is however, no typical, academically trained Dutch artist struggling to make a name for himself. In fact, until the latter part of the 90′s he is still only a cardiologist. It is around that time that he decides to create a number of paintings to liven up the empty walls of his new home. With that he suddenly discovers a new passion and before long Menno Baars manages to launch a successful second career as a visual artist.
“Rapunzel”, 150x60cm, acrylic canvas by Menno Baars, copyright 2013
Baars’ passion and the intense joy he experiences while painting, practically jump and burst from his canvases in the form of bright colors, thick, bold strokes and playful figures. The work is intuitive and drenched in an exuberant, almost childlike enthusiasm and impulsiveness. To emphasize the act of painting Baars applies his paint to the canvasses with wide brushes and in a loose and fierce signature style”.
In recent years Baars has been increasingly sharing his painterly insights with the public. His focus is on a surprising surface division, in an alternating lightness. The new paintings radiate a sense of spaciousness and confusion. Large scale, monumental-like compositions, abstractions of the – always present – human figures that radiate childlike abandon and boisterous enjoyment. They reflect his passion for life as well as his sense of humor.
The relatively young art career of Menno Baars is already marked by numerous highlights. In 2007 the publication Hart Voor Elkaar (Lannoo, Brussel) appears, a book filled with images of his paintings. Menno participates in international exhibitions and has solo exhibitions in among other places, Monaco, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Dubai. In New York he paints live for the Dutch Royal Family and in 2008 he is commissioned by the Schiphol Group, to paint a passenger plane. In 2009 JFK Airport in New York purchases a large ‘Baars’. He paints the mainsail of a super yacht while sailing (Volvo Ocean Race, Stockholm), participates in the ‘Elephant Parade‘ in Amsterdam in 2009, and sees his elephant sculpture ‘Baars Fant nr. 1′, auctioned off at Christie’s for € 35,000.-. In January 2010 he travels to London with Corneille and makes a sculpture for the garden of Buckingham Palace. He paints a 30 meter high hot air balloon, and makes a sculpture series of giant proportions called ‘For The Love Of Life‘. In 2011 the BMW M3 ‘art car’ that he has painted is introduced and in 2013 he launches the Penguin Parade, a colorful exhibition of unique painted penguin sculptures.
“Penguin Parade” sculptures, Menno Baars
Work by Menno Baars can be found in leading collections worldwide, including those of KPMG, Shell, Pfizer, ALLIANZ, ABNAMRO and Microsoft.
And now in December 2013, at the initiative of Da Vinci Enterprises N.V., Menno Baars has his first solo exhibition in Suriname. From the 16th until the 19th of December, the public can enjoy the work of this interesting Dutch artist who manages to express his unbridled lust for life and adventure, so strikingly in paint. The exhibition includes a number of paintings which Baars, inspired by the tropical warmth and new sensory experiences, has painted in Suriname.
The exhibition BIGI BRASA BAARS is open from Monday the 16th until Thursday the 19th of December, in De Hal at the Grote Combéweg 45, from 19:00 – 22:00 hrs.
TEXT Cassandra Gummels-Relyveld
