In-depth

ISBN 978-3-7356-0438, 22.5 x 28 cm | 288 pages c. 250 images | soft cover | | English-German
Design Scherpontwerp, Eindhoven
Published in cooperation with the Jan Henderikse Foundation

Jan Henderikse - In Transit
Antoon Melissen

This major monograph pays homage to Dutch artist Jan Henderikse (Delft, 1937), one of the key players in European art after 1960.

Henderikse’s oeuvre seems composed of arbitrary choices for assemblages and readymades, photography, film, artists' books and installation art. This publication sheds light on Henderikse's multi-form oeuvre––and on the difficulty of pigeonholing the artist. Henderikse has always been an artist 'in between', flirting with the purity of ZERO, with the impish outlook on life of Nul, with the object-related imagery of the Nouveaux Réalistes, with Pop Art and with Fluxus.

This monograph is an important addition to the history of Nul and ZERO in the Netherlands. New material from Jan and Idi Henderikse's personal archive makes this publication an essential read!

Out now!

Antoon Melissen (ed.), contributions by Peter Lodermeyer, Antoon Melissen and Eugen Gomringer | Design: Loek Kemming | hardcover | 24 x 30 cm, 192 pages, 200 ills. | In cooperation with the Riki Mijling Foundation

Antoon Melissen (ed.)
Riki Mijling. Void/Volume
Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld/Berlin

It was in the winter of 2016, that the newly formed Riki Mijling Foundation announced its plans to support a monographic publication on Riki Mijling.

In his essay, Melissen traces the origin of Mijling’s work, placing it in a context of predecessors and contemporaries. His essay will link the development of her oeuvre to influential exhibitions, biennales and publications from the mid-1970s onwards. Thus, this essay offers more than an insight in the topicality of

Riki Mijling’s oeuvre alone: it also mirrors a changing cultural landscape which, since the 1970s, has become increasingly transboundary and multi-disciplinary.

Peter Lodermeyer’s essay will put special emphasis on the rich tradition of European minimalist tendencies, and the meaning of Mijling’s work in relation to contemporary notions of 'minimalism' and 'non-objectivity'. Both essays create a context suitable for an international audience of readers.

Antoon Melissen (ed.), Caroline Hofman
Forthcoming 2020

In preparation: a monographic publication (c. 200 pages) on Caroline Hofman, accompanying a museum exhibition in the Netherlands. More information soon.

Antoon Melissen (ed.), Lothar Wolleh
(working title)
Forthcoming 2020

In preparation: a monographic publication (300 + pages) on German photographer Lothar Wolleh, renowned for his portraits of post-war European avant-garde artists, and initiator of artists books and editions. But Lothar Wolleh was also a pioneer in color photography, an aspect of his work that has never been featured before.
In close cooperation with the Lothar Wolleh Estate, Berlin

Antoon Melissen (ed.), Herbert Zangs
Forthcoming 2020

In preparation: an extensive monographic publication (300+ pages) on German avant-garde artist Herbert Zangs.

Tijs Visser, with Antoon Melissen (eds.), henk peeters: from nul to zero, AsaMER Press, Ghent

Henk Peeters was the most active member of the Dutch Nul Group, notably with regard to the organization. Peeters played a pivotal role therein, as initiator, connecting figure and champion of “the just cause,” as he often described his total package of ZERO activities. Peeters nurtured his contacts with like-minded pioneers, such as Lucio Fontana, Heinz Mack, Piero Manzoni, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, but more importantly, by establishing these contacts he created a new mental framework for so many artists at home in the Netherlands.

In this respect, the person of Henk Peeters also reflects the shifting relations between artists and the world at large from the late 1950s on. In Peeters’ view, the artist no longer held an isolated position, and it is precisely this integration of art and life that formed the basis of a highly personal artistic program, in theory and in practice.

This monograph with contributions by international scholars highlights Peeters' importance for Nul, for ZERO, and for the arts in general.

Antoon Melissen, Jan Schoonhoven, nai010 Publishers, Rotterdam

Awarded 'Best Dutch Book Designs 2015'

For Almost 40 years, Jan J. Schoonhoven (*1914) worked on his highly distinctive monochrome white reliefs, made of papier-mâché, paper and cardboard. The central theme of this monograph is the development op Schoonhoven's oeuvre, from the earliest gouaches in the late 1930s to the last signed relief, made in the early 1990s. This publication places Schoonhoven in an international context, as an influential member of the postwar European avant-garde.

This monograph includes a thorough discussion of Schoonhoven's significance in the international ZERO movement. Attention to the contexts in which he made his drawings and reliefs also offers a new perspective on Schoonhovens live and artistic career. A selection of Schoonhoven's writings on art from the years 1958-1975 convey an intimate sense of the artist's ideas and methods.

Antoon Melissen (ed.), Armando. Between Knowing and Understanding, nai010 Publishers, Rotterdam

This monumental monograph is devoted to one of the most important post-war Dutch artists. Armando (*1929) has worked for decades on an oeuvre exploring such themes as melancholy, power, powerlessness and the uneasy fusion of beauty and evil.
Since the late 1950s, he has been one of a vanguard of artistic innovators as an artist, poet and writer, and more recently as a maker of television and theatre.

With a selection of more than 250 works and four lavishly illustrated essays, this book presents an overview of Armando’s oeuvre - from the early Informal years, his association with the international ZERO movement, and developments of later years. For the first time, the full breadth of a unique, eclectic artistic career spanning six decades is revealed.

Tiziana Caianiello and Tijs Visser (eds.), The Artist as Curator. Collaborative Initiatives in the International ZERO Movement, Asamer Press, Ghent

Between the late 1950s and the mid-1960s, a new artistic movement emerged in Europe that came to be known under the name ZERO, as artists from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Switzerland sought new ways to collaborate and create new platform for their activities. This book focuses on the main projects realized by artists from the ZERO context and is the first comprehensive study on this subject.

This book presents the result of several years of collaboration by an international group of scholars put together by the ZERO foundation.

With contributions by Tiziana Caianiello, Stefan Geiger, Antje von Graevenitz, Beate Kemfert, Serge Lemoine, Antoon Melissen, Andres Pardey, Johan Pas, Francesca Pola, Dirk Pörschmann, Tina Rivers Ryan, Ulrike Schmitt, Caroline de Westenholz, and Thekla Zell.

Dirk Pörschmann and Margriet Schavemaker (eds.), ZERO, ex. cat., Museum Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin/Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Walther König Verlag, Cologne

Over 50 years after the founding of the ZERO movement thtis most comprehensive publication ever is devoted not only to the first founding artists Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, nor even just to these international artists who were close to ZERO such as Yves Klein and Lucio Fontana, but also to such forgotten artists as Hermann Goepfert, Oskar Holweck or Hans Salentin. This catalogue accompanies the travelling ZERO-exhibition at Museum Gropius Bau, Berlin, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

The 45 artists selected, including 11 from Germany, reflect the ideas of the ZERO founders, both in a formal and a conceptual sense. This publication includes an impressive amount of documentation on historical exhibitions, events, artists' writings and magazines.

With essays by Daniel Birnbaum, Antoon Melissen, Johan Pas, Francesca Pola, Dirk Pörschmann, Margriet Schavemaker, Mattijs Visser, and Thekla Zell.

Luca Massimo Barbero (ed.), AZIMUT|H. Continuity and Newness, ex. cat., Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice/Marsilio Editore, Venice

Autumn 2014, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection celebrated the neo-avant-gardes with an exhibition dedicated to Azimut/h, the gallery and the review founded in 1959 by Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani. The exhibition set out to reconstruct the fundamental role played by Azimuth/h and by the revolutionary new generation of creative spirits that it brought together, in the panorama of experimental and new art in Italy and Europe at that time.

With a full selection of works of art but also printed and manuscript documentation, some unpublished, this exhibition will bring to life this short but intense story characteristic of the internationalization of contemporary art in the period following World War II.

With essays by Luca Massimo Barbero, Flaminio Gualdoni, Antoon Melissen, Francesca Pola, and Federico Sardella.

Rudi Fuchs, Antoon Melissen and Renate Wiehager, Auke de Vries. Sculptures, Drawings and Work in Public Space, nai010 Publishers, Rotterdam

Dutch artist Auke de Vries (b. 1937) is best known for the elegant and whimsical sculptures he constructs in public space, both in the Netherlands and around the world. His striking permanent sculptures such as the Maasbeeld in Rotterdam, the Hollands Spoor Station sculpture in The Hague, the work in the pond of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, on the roof of the Daimler-Chrysler Building in Berlin, and many projects in cities such as Istanbul, Johannesburg, Aberdeen, Frankfurt make him one of the most well-known artists of work in public space.

Less well-known is that De Vries’s artistic spectrum extends far beyond sculpture, ranging from tiny sketches to large-scale spatial design studies. In 2012 De Vries turns 75 and he has been an artist over 50 years. This book presents, for the first time, an overview of the oeuvre De Vries has produced over the course of more than 50 years.

Renate Wiehager and Antoon Melissen (eds.), Jan Henderikse. Acheiropoieta, Hatje Cantz Publishers, Ostfildern

Jan Henderikse (*1937) called a 1996 exhibition of his ready-mades Acheiropoieta (literally "not handmade”), an antique term for a particular type of icon that originates miraculously. As early as 1961–62, the artist’s works anticipated major contemporary trends in art, employing everyday materials in the tradition of the ready-made, assemblage and montage, mirroring the purism of the ZERO movement, but echoing Nouveau Réalismea nd Pop Art at the same time.

Henderikse augmented his material basis in the seventies and eighties with conceptual artists’ books, photographic series, and installations comprising “ready-found” photographic material and films.
This monograph lists major works from public and private collections for the first time, thus enabling renewed access to the artist’s complex multimedia oeuvre.

Other publications (a selection)

Francesca Pola and Antoon Melissen, 'Jan Henderikse. MINT', ex. cat. Cortesi Gallery, Londen / Skira Milan, 2018
Author

Emma van Proosdij, Antoon Melissen, 'Auke de Vries - Tussenlanding', ex. cat. Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen/Den Haag, 2017
Author

Antoon Melissen, 'Kopf, Herz, Hand - Nieuwe gouaches van Armando', ex. cat., Galerie Post + Garcia, Maastricht, 2017
Author

Antoon Melissen, 'Alexandra Philips - Until the Last Drop', ex. cat., Schoots + van Duyse, Antwerp, 2016
Author

Antoon Melissen and Sibylle Badstübner-Gröger, 'Sabine Laidig. CHROMA', ex. cat. Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen/Lütze Museum and Galeria 72/Muzeum Chelmskie w Chelmie, Chelm, Poland, 2015
Author

Teveel is niet genoeg. Jan Henderikse en ZERO, Kunstschrift, 3/2015
Author

Jan Henderikse. Works on Paper, 1957, Lecturis Publishers, 2013
Editor and author

Jan Henderikse. Kaleidoscopia, Lecturis Publishers, 2013
Editor and author

Henk Peeters. Sensual ZERO, brochure text for the exhibition at Locus Solus Gallery, Antwerp, 2013
Author

Jan Schoonhoven, catalogue text Borzo Gallery for Art Basel, 2013
Author (with Paul van Rosmalen)

Street credibility. Realisme volgens Jan Henderikse, catalogue Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam, 2012
Author (with Paul van Rosmalen)

Jan Henderikse. Nickel. Artists' Edition, signed and numbered multiple + booklet, Luiscius Publishers, Den Bosch, 2011.
Author

Jan Henderikse. Loco. Van nul tot nu, brochure text for the exhibition at Locus Solus Gallery, Antwerp, 2011
Author

Riki Mijling, Ver sem Analisar, Centro de Artes e Cultura de Ponte de Sor, Portugal, 2011
Author

Colin Huizing and Tijs Visser (eds.), Nul=0, The Dutch nul group in an international context, nai010, 2010.
Author (with Colin Huizing, Tijs Visser, Caroline de Westenholz, Renate Wiehager, Atsuo Yamamoto, Midori Yamamura)

Gijs van Bon. Time Moving Abstract Pieces/Autonomous Theatrical Objects, D'jonge hond Publishers, 2010
Author

Riki Mijling. Resonance, 2010
Author

Jan Henderikse. Assemlages, Multiples, Ready-Mades, book with signed and numbered multiple, J.P. De Paepe Editions, Brugge, 2008.
Editor and author (with Renate Wiehager)