FEATHERLIGHT
15th of January to 23rd of February 2002
Yves Hoffmann Gallery, 80, rue de Turenne, F-75003 Paris

Featherlight: a young man is innocently wanking despite the presence of the camera.
The image is not shocking. The almost frightening banality of the gesture removes the pornographic bawdiness that such photographs usually stand for. Yet a disturbing je-ne-sais-quoi remains. Perhaps generated by its amazing innocence. Where can we possibly rest our eyes on? On the latexdressed cock? On the slightly distorted face? It is difficult to look at one without seeing the other. The model completely ignores such problems because ignoring the eye of the camera, he ignores the looks of the audience. He is absorbed in his pleasure. The viewer is left alone with his thoughts, which may be quite uncomfortable.

Despite his reputation in the Netherlands, (his works are to be found in prestigious collections like ABN-AMRO or Stedelijk Museum-Amsterdam), Albert van Westing never showed in Paris. It thus seemed necessary to conceive the present exhibition as a small retrospective. Works from 1994 up to 2001 will be on show.

Is it possible to add time to the glimpselike moment materialized by photography?
Van Westing's answer is yes. His photographs are going through various manipulations, enlargements and experiments with different inks and ammonia before coming to a result.
The shooting as such is so to speak only a detail, what really is on show in the end is a copy of a copy of a photograph. In many respects, his photographs remind the viewer of press photography and might be taken for documents, though the strong black and white contrasts often create a feeling of abstraction.

Van Westing's work is about the human being and about intimacy. Not a caricatural intimacy as the one we are used to, by so many photowork of the recent years. (Who would nowadays pretend to be interested in a spermstained bedsheet or in other this-is-what-I-do-now-grab-it!-work? )
We are used to having such a lot of people around us, that we can simply switch off our perception of them. They seize to exist which enables us to behave like being in a state of privacy though we are in a public space.
In Eating, Drinking, Sleeping I, for instance, four men are lying in a circle on a meadow in a park. They are resting in confidence, though their absence of mind in a public space makes them particularly vulnerable.

Many things remain to be said about Albert van Westings work, but a press release is not the right place to do so. More on the 12th of January, at the opening.

In collaboration with l'Institut Néerlandais, Paris.


KIETELEN, SCHEREN, KLIMMEN EN ANDERE SERIES
(Tickling, Shaving, Climbing and Other Series)

The exhibition at Galerie De Praktijk , Amsterdam, 10.11. - 19.12.2001, is almost entirely composed of series of works which ALBERT VAN WESTING (Wassenaar, 1960) has produced over recent years. Tickling (2001), an eighteen-piece work, shows three young men, who whithout a thought for their surroundings abandon themselves to tickling each other to death, following a strenuous work-out.

The work is presented chronologically, but just as in his well-known series Plaza Catalunya (1996), also part of the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, this is of minor importance. In each part the action is pre-eminent, as though time has no influence any more. As in other works, such as Climbing, Shaving and Featherlight, everyday, intimate subject matter is central. The photography is always affectionate and subjects are represented with a suitable distance, reached by means of less conventional materials.

The publication "Kietelen/ Chatouiller/ Kitzeln/ Tickling" will be presented during the opening 10 November 2001 from 16.00 - 18.00 hrs. We would like to welcome you then.

Born 1960 in Wassenaar, Netherlands

1994 Ennu, Tilburg (NL)
1994 Time Based Arts, Amsterdam (NL)
1986 Ennu, Tilburg (NL)
1988 Perspektief, Rotterdam (NL)
1991 Linnaeusstraat, Amsterdam (NL)br>1992 Galerie Zonder Titel, Amsterdam (NL)
1992 Lokaal 01, Breda (NL)
1993 Galerie Liesbeth Lips, Breda (NL)
1993 Lokaal 01, Antwerp (B)
1995 fotogalerie 2 1/2 x 4 1/2, Amsterdam (NL)
1995 Signalement, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL)
1996 Galerie de Expeditie, Amsterdam (NL)
1996 Pand Paulus, Schiedam (NL)
1997 Aan zee, Vrieshuis Amerika, Amsterdam (NL)
1997 Publiek #2, Veemvloer, Amsterdam (NL)
1997 Without Walls, Nederlands Architectuur Instituut, Rotterdam (NL)(met VMX-architecten)
1998 Palacio de Abrantes, Salamanca (E)
1998 Aan tafel, Galerie de Expeditie, Amsterdam (NL)
1999 Galerie Loerakker, Amsterdam (NL)
2000 Beminnen, De Praktijk, Amsterdam (NL)
2001 At Ease, Museum Jan Cunen, Oss (NL)
2001 Kietelen, Scheren, Klimmen en andere series, De Praktijk, Amsterdam (NL)

1983 Time Based Arts, Amsterdam (NL)
1984 Dominicanerkerk, Maastricht (NL)
1985 Elly Strik, Bernaar Leenders, Albert Kliest, Berna Esselaar, Albert van Westing Stedelijk Museum, Roermond (NL) (curator Anke van der Laan)
1988 Rijksaankopen 1987, Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam (NL)
1989 Verschilzicht, de Ruimte, Amsterdam (NL)
1990 Beroep: Kunstenaar, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede (NL)(curator Leo Delfgaauw)
1992 Reis naar het einde van het atelier, Lokaal 01, Breda (NL)(curator Ad van Rosmalen)
1994 Pride, Loods 6, Amsterdam (NL)
1995 En entre O.K., en sort K.O., Galerie Peninsula, Eindhoven (NL)
1995 Polygene, Lokaal 01, Breda (NL)(curator Ad van Rosmalen)
1996 Art Cologne, Cologne (D)
1996 Sublieme vormen met zicht vanaf 5 meter, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL) (curatoren: Leontine Coelewij, Marien Schouten)
1997 Yard, Het Hooghuis, Arnhem (NL)
1997 Het scheidend vermogen, Artis, Den Bosch (NL)
1997 Tussen de mazen, Zeitschnitt Niederlande, Kunstraum, Innsbruck (A) (curator Lex ter Braak)
1998 El Dia de Cada Dia, Canal de Isabel II, Madrid (E)
1998 From the Corner of the Eye, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL) (curatoren Hripsimé Visser, Leontine Coelewij, Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen)
1998 Liste 98, Basel (CH)
1998 Galerie Loerakker, Amsterdam (NL)
1999 Paris Photo, Paris (F)
1999 Galerie Stadt München, Amsterdam (NL)
1999 Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal (CAN) (curator Frits Gierstberg)
1999 Glad IJs, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL) (curatoren: Rudi Fuchs, Hripsimé Visser)
2000 Human Conditions, Intimate Portraits, NFI, Rotterdam (NL)
2000 Foto's in inkt, Grafisch atelier, Utrecht (NL)
2000 Threesome, Begane grond, Utrecht (NL)
2000 Human Conditions, Intimate Portraits, Canal de Isabel II, Madrid (E)
2001 Art Brussels (B)
2001 Carte Blanche, Hoffmann Gallery, Paris (F)
2001 Piëta, Museum voor religieuze kunst, Uden