Liesbeth Bos

A common interest, the impact we have on our world and its consequences for the society we are part of, is the starting point for the presentation at the platforms project 2024. 4 artists take a point of view, from the past, in the present or with a view to the future. Whether it is about nuclear waste, the ever-changing urban landscape, the way in which we relate to the use of green space or about a dystopian society, the human dimension is always present in the work.

Based on Calvino's text fragment 'facades' is the theme for this exhibition at scotty Berlin. Facades characterize urban enviroments. They act as facades of the city.

A rose is a rose is a.... What you see is what yo get. Be beware there are always more points of view.

bijdrage platformsproject 2020 en 2021

A series painted works inspired by the essence of photograpic images.

Twee tentoonstellingen die elkaar ontmoeten in een ruimte. Je kan je afvragen hoe het breekbare bestaan zich verhoudt tot een plek in een stad? Geeft de één de ander ruimte? Ontstaat er een gesprek? Komen ze tot elkaar of houden ze afstand?

Every day life is questioned and used as inspiration for new artwork. Everyday facts are unraveld and reconstructed. In the cube installation a new reality is created.

Wandering through life, caught by breath-taking moments. Finding a balance between the fragmentary and impulsive world on the one hand and moments of reflection and beauty on the other. What is it about these moments? Is it the atmosphere, the light, more formal aspects such as colour or form…? By unravelling and reconstructing Liesbeth Bos tries to capture the quintessence of a moment that stands out. Moments are always connected to places. New images arise, a whole is created, a new reality, in which the concrete and the poetic meet each other in a balance of their own. Expressing the inexpressible, isn’t that the contemporary’s artists dilemma?

In the meantime the project developed to 'there are two ways 2.0'. A serie paintings on panel inspired by the essence of the photo images. an expaple.

It seems as if the users or owners of the rooms in this building have stopped their work and left. A desolate atmosphere, with visible remains of use; a cupboard along a wall, a window frame in decay, a japanese girl on a poster, a ladder, suitcases. The feeling of home is under pressure. With relatively small interventions Liesbeth Bos reflects on the desolate, displaced feeling in the building and its affected skin. Liesbeth Bos heals the skin of the building in a photo-installation. She makes an effort to ‘repair’ injuries with photography: in or near damaged parts of walls and windows she will ‘implant’ pieces of Dutch ‘skin’ in the walls, fences, windows of the Foundry. Next to the photo a nameplate will mention the place of origin of the implantate and the date of the implantation. The question arises will this photo installation bring back the feeling of home or just emphasis the feeling of desolation?

Eight upper part of house facades, positioned centrally, photographed against a uncompromising steel blue sky, not the comforting blue of a summer day on the beach, more like a two dimensional confrontational wall of blue, escaping it isn’t possible. Again you can speak of fragments out of context, context of the endless Laan van Meerdervoort, in turn boring and architectonic and historic interesting. These fragment speak for themselves, out of their daily picturesque surrounding they are disturbing. Every piece becomes as inaccessible as its steel blue background against which they stand out on the one hand but on the other hand they reflect, as a series, on almost exotic images with a communal sign, the upstanding pinnacles who seem to pinch a hole in the blue. The appearance of the stately The Hague mansion seems to be exchanged for that of an anonymous, inaccessible fortress, all familiarity is gone, while in the works title and at first glance this was suggested. Result: a strange sort of isolation, mankind can’t feel at home any more in its own environment. These works of art call out one question, maybe the question of our time: Where am I?

For a year l went out every week with my camera to make a photograph. These images form series. The meaning of the collection became clear in in the course of the time. Answers are found, new questions arise. Light stands out as a theme. Even if there is no sunlight in sight on dark winter days the photos are about expressiveness of light and the attempt to capture this. Another theme is eternity versus relativity and everyday reality. Looking from different points of view the question arises if there is a way of seeing them all? Is it possible one image can communicate different things at the same time? And if so, what makes it do so? Next to light colour is a theme. Light and colour, is light colour? Does colour exist by means of the presence of light? Further structure, repetition and rhythm stand out. Beauty as a way to gain attention, to seduce the viewer. Ones seduced you can see, by better looking, there is more, more layers with a different meaning. Some pleasant, some edgy, some to think about. Looking and seeing are important concepts. The photos, isolated, out of context of the week-rhythm, are reorganized as series. This lead to new and different points of view and to new images. A new, personal reality emerges.

The Hague is known as international city of peace en law, it is a governmental city and it is located near the sea. You can feel the closeness of the see. Often there are heavy showers and stormy winds and always screaming gulls around. As result you often see broken umbrella's on the streets. Nice colourful umbrella's to western taste, often made in China or Taiwan. Transported halfway around the world and finally just dumped in the gutter. A 'nice' example of globalisation? Visual artist Liesbeth Bos collected the umbrella's, disassembled them and put them together again. Reused umbrella's as a swarm colourful birds, as colourful as mankind itself. Strange birds, seemingly without any connections but condemned to each other in the installation 'strange birds'. Just as people live together without ever really connecting. Like life suggesting unity without ever being so.

The moment, just before sunrise at 'Paal 14, drieënvijftig graden en vijfentwintig minuten' is startingpoint for this Windnomade. Seen from the dunes at one hand, and from the other hand viewed from the Noth-sea dike. 'Paal 14' is also to be seen as a map where with the geografical coordinates as cental theme.