NadjaVilenne – Le Blog

Charlotte Lagro et Suchan Kinoshita participe à l’exposition Four times two, nouvelle présentation de la collection au Bonnefantenmuseum à Maastricht. A voir jusqu’au 14 juin 29026. Commissaire : Paula van den Bosch. 

The exhibition Four times Two invites you to unravel the way that artworks are connected  to one another and to the visitor. This collection presentation of contemporary art covers half a century, and presents various generations of artists and art movements. The acquisition of Shinkichi Tajiri’s iconic artwork of four knots, Four times Two (1967), in 2024, formed the trigger and the starting point for this presentation. 

Four times Two by the Japanese-American-Dutch artist Shinkichi Tajiri (Los Angeles, 7 December 1923 – Baarlo, 15 March 2009) is both personal and fascinating. Tajiri’s exposure to racism and exclusion had a decisive influence on his life and work. As a young man, he experienced war and hatred, and he yearned for solidarity. Tajiri’s distinctive knot is a recognisable symbol of connection and unity all over the world. Bringing people together, however, is no easy task. It requires courage and an environment that does not recoil from things that are different or unfamiliar. And not everything can be solved just like that. Shinkichi Tajiri’s knot stands for that as well: the world is complex and confusing, and human relationships are often complicated.

Each room shows work by four artists: the number of knots in Four times Two. The works are all very diverse with regard to their subject, theme or appearance. So the question is: what do they have in common? To give a suggestion or clue, each room has a title, like: rhythm & transformation or time & gravity. But everyone looks at things differently and makes different connections. The exhibition is therefore mainly an invitation to go in personal search of the underlying ideas, emotions, messages or symbolism that connect these artworks, across time and cultural differences, both to each other and to us.

Four times Two brings together works by leading international artists in a surprising way. Under the heading engagement & desire, for example, you see work by Lydia Schouten, a pioneer in the field of performance, video and installation art, and an important figurehead of feminism. Her work enters into dialogue, as it were, with that of the Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, who is known for his installations and collages made of disposable materials. Both Schouten and Hirschhorn are renowned for their engaged work, but they express their interaction with everyday social and political issues in totally different ways. In the abstraction & illusion room, the abstract ‘wave’ painting by Mary Heilmann is exhibited alongside Sonne Vaassen’s realistic video with highly illusionistic content.

Four times Two includes works by: Francis Alys, Paul Chan, Peter Doig, Mary Heilmann, Thomas Hirschhorn, Suchan Kinoshita, Jos Kruit, Mario Merz, Charlotte Lagro, Sol LeWitt, Laura Owens, Roman Signer, Carol Rhodes, Lydia Schouten, Shinkichi Tajiri, Sonne Vaassen, Luciano Fabro, Paloma Varga Weisz and Richard Serra.