Piet Zwaanswijk: ‘Primates occupy Bern’

A collection of monkeys in all shapes and sizes

2nd of October 2021 – 3rd of March 2022 at Café Bern (extended during lockdown)

From the 3rd of October until the 2nd of December, 2021 Piet Zwaanswijk (1947) is exhibiting a selection of his work at Café Bern. All-embracing theme of the work shown in Bern: a collection of monkeys in all shapes and sizes.

Please feel free to drop by. From 4:00-6:00 p.m. you can come and see the exhibition at your ease. Or late at night, after 11:00 p.m., when the rather busy dinner time has finished and a lovely relaxed “after hours” atmosphere has descended on Café Bern.

Below you can already have a preview of some of the works exhibited at Café Bern.

Piet Zwaanswijk

Haarlem, 1947

Piet Zwaanswijk is an autodidact and has been an artist since 1967. It would be hard to categorize his work as part of a movement or school. To him the self-chosen “Quasirealism” comes closest to characterize his work. The wide range of images, expressions, material use and techniques, mixed and interchanged all the time, all contribute to a unique image of Zwaanswijk.

As varied as his palette is his choice of subjects: images from newspapers or from the TV news, social injustice, war, terrorism, suicide, eroticism as well as humour, glamour, music or the seamy side of life.

Other sources of inspiration are his long stays in Indonesia, as well as art history. In short, life as it presents itself to Zwaanswijk: from understated to exuberant, from absurdistic to realistic, from abstract to figurative. Fragmentary connections that show multiple sides of subject and artist in all forms of expression. A major part of his work stems from passion and impulsiveness, to touch, to inspire, above all to amaze himself (and us). The work of Piet Zwaanswijk is similar to that of Martin Kippenberger (Germany) or Edwin Wurms (Austria): just as capricious and unimaginable, just as varied in its forms of expression.

For more information: www.pietzwaanswijk.nl

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Gerrit Pasman: The landscape

The whole field of view

12 March – 22 April 2022 in Café Bern

From 12 March to 22 April 2022 Gerrit Pasman (Lochem, 1955) exhibits landscapes in casein tempera and oil paint in Café Bern. A large, monumental space, translated onto a relatively small surface, while the space experience remains intact.

Please feel free to drop by. From 4:00-6:00 p.m. you can come and see the exhibition at your ease. Or late at night, after 11:00 p.m., when the rather busy dinner time has finished and a lovely relaxed “after hours” atmosphere has descended on Café Bern.

Below you can already have a preview of some of the works exhibited at Café Bern.

Gerrit Pasman

Lochem, 1955

The landscape, drawn and painted according to the direct perception. The aim is to reflect what is seen, from eye angle to eye angle, i.e. the whole field of view.

Translating a large, monumental space onto a relatively small surface, where the experience of space remains intact; displaying atmosphere and sensation experienced, with attention to the (clouded) skies, without falling into a meteorological illustration and with understanding of high-voltage masts, etc., lending the work a contemporary character.

Voor meer info: www.gerritpasman.nl

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Sammy Iason: ‘The world surrounding me‘

28th of May – 26th of August 2022 at Café Bern

From 28 May to 26 August 2022, Sammy Iason (Heerlen, 1995) will exhibit a selection of his (analogue) photographic work, from the period 2018 to the present, including photographs from his latest series ‘Sleepers’.

Please feel free to drop by. From 4:00-6:00 p.m. you can come and see the exhibition at your ease. Or late at night, after 11:00 p.m., when the rather busy dinner time has finished and a lovely relaxed “after hours” atmosphere has descended on Café Bern.

Below you can already have a preview of some of the works exhibited at Café Bern.

Sammy Iason

Heerlen, 1995

Sammy Iason lives and works in Amsterdam, where as a photographer he is inspired by the everyday. He focuses his lens on the street, on people he knows, but also on strangers and situations that may often be overlooked precisely because of their banality. In this way he tries to capture the moments the way he experiences them. Sammy is challenged and inspired by the work of major 20th-century photographers, including Brassaï, Vivian Maier and Elliott Erwitt.

He works analogueue and shoots his images, alternating quick snapshots and portrait photography, through the lens of various cameras such’s the Leica M6, Hasselblad and Rolleiflex. His black-and-white photographs often feature in series that he merges into zines like Arctic charm (2020), a series centered on the Icelandic landscape.

Sammy studied guitar at the pop department of the Amsterdam Conservatoire. Besides photography for various bands like City Park, Joya Mooi and Teddy’s Hit, for which he shot portraits and album sleeve art, his work was also shown in the exhibition Golden Glue (‘PAND, Heerlen, 2020). Also he plays in various bands.

For this exhibition he took a dip into his archive: ring binders filled with sheets full of negatives, dating from 2018 to 2022. Working with film and making prints gives him a lot of creative freedom. It gives a look and a certain character to the photos that’s unique. His field of work is the world around him. He always carries a camera to capture everyday life.

Sammy takes photographs of the city of Amsterdam and of the people he encounters, of friends and family, of the nightlife of the music world and the people and places that belong to it. Street photography, the people unknown to him who stand out from him, who somehow draw his attention.

The new work contains photographs of his series ‘SLEEPERS’: sleeping people in all kinds of postures in all kinds of places in the world. These photo’s have been bundled in a zine, but have not yet been printed. In addition, there are photographs shot in the center of Amsterdam.

Also check: www.sammyiason.com

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