Ramon Dykgraaf, his partner Marc Cals along with Joke Doedens and Simone Haak who run Terra, a ceramics gallery in the city, have a passion for painting, sculpture and ceramics. But Ramon and Marc don’t keep it locked away in their beautiful home on the Oude Delft canal. They share it with like-minded visitors twice a year with their excellent spring and autumn two-day Kunstkamer shows which have become a bit of a local institution.
This Saturday we arrived early but visitors were already pouring in. Ramon and Marc carefully curate their shows so as to give each artist the perfect spot, either in the light pouring through the large windows, or with skillfully set up spot lights.
There was much to choose from. Stephanie Roos, an artist I am very pleased to have discovered. Her Female Hybrid , a realistic sculpture of a girl wrapped in what seemed white bandages and huge workman’s boots sporting long uncoiled laces, gazed out of the window with a slightly melancholy expression – a young girl lost? In an adjacent room I found another of Stephanie Roos’ work – a portrait of a middle-aged woman backed by an enormous pumpkin. Again, the face expressed sadness or disappointment. There were other pieces by this artist by these two touched me most.
A large impressive diptych by Caren van Herwaarden of two figures, one male, one female, seemed to be in a silent stalemate of communication, the man hesitant if not resigned, the woman hugging herself.
Remko Dikken was by no means overshadowed by the two artists mentioned above. His large black and white work, entitled Man met bril (Man with Glasses) was powerful and reminded me much of the work of one of my favourite artists, Antoni Tapiès. There were, as always in Kunstkamer shows, ceramics, this time they were supplied in the form of enigmatic figures by Beatrijs van Rheeden. Astrid Burchardt, 5th November 2022
