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 find beautiful, the things I have learned, the things I am passionate about," explains the artist.
Love for the landscape
In her artworks, Boelsums creates her own reality. She photographs landscapes that fascinate her and then works on them for weeks, sometimes months. Pixel by pixel.
Her method of manual post-processing evokes an atmosphere that is both picturesque and poetic. She does not show an objectively observable reality, but rather an impressionistic and personal experience. In her work, she builds on the art-historical painting tradition of romanticized and turbulent landscapes, such as the watercolors of Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch, the cloudscapes of John Constable, and the paintings of the Barbizon school.
Saskia Boelsums, Landscape #42, 2019
Landscapes around Amstelveen
Saskia Boelsums created a series of landscapes in the Amstelveen area especially for this exhibition. In addition to recognizable elements such as the spires of St. Urbanus Church or the monumental entrance gate to the Wester-Amstel estate, the works also offer universal images of the Dutch landscape with dramatic cloudy skies.
Saskia Boelsums
After graduating from the Minerva Academy in Groningen, Boelsums mainly created 3D installations, often in collaboration with writer/visual artist Peter Veen. Since 2013, she has focused entirely on photography. Through still lifes and portraits, which can also be seen in Love for the Landscape, she 'ended up' outdoors, as it were.
Boelsums grew up partly in Iran and Curaçao, and the Netherlands became a kind of 'promised land' for her. Following in the footsteps of Jan Wolkers, who first immersed himself in nature and then began to paint, Boelsums also wanted to translate her 'outdoor feeling' into her art. Photography enabled her to shape the Dutch landscape according to her own taste.