Jong, Petra de Jong
[2007544]

Petra de Jong
1946-

Het werk van Petra de Jong omschrijft zich het beste als “flexibele geometrie in beweging”.
Zij is geïnspireerd door niet westerse statische patronen die ze doorbreekt met golvende dynamische kleurpartijen, een harmonie die gevoelig en uitnodigend is.

De transparante schildertechniek, waarmee het beeld in verschillende lagen wordt opgebouwd,

is essentieel omdat het ruimte en speelsheid suggereert. Visuele vibratie zoals het zonlicht gereflecteerd op de zee.

Zoals Güneş Uz opmerkte in een radio interview voor de NPS, de Jong’s schilderijen lijken te dansen.

In haar huidige werk worden de vlakken losser en ruimtelijker geschilderd en op ongeprepareerd linnen aangebracht.
De titels van haar schilderijen refereren aan rivieren en landschappen en laten haar verbondenheid met de natuur zien.

Petra de Jong kreeg opdrachten en tentoonstellingen in binnen- en buitenland waaronder recent in Den Haag, Istanbul, Ankara en Minneapolis.

Zie verderop het interview voor Mimesia Gallery in Den Haag.

Opleiding:
1965‑70 Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag, afdeling Vrije Kunst
1970‑73 Technische Universiteit Delft, afdeling bouwkunde
1994 Vrije Academie Den Haag, research plexiglas

Overzicht Kunst In de Openbare Ruimte:
2018 Installatie Beth El school, Minneapolis USA
2018 RVB Belastingdienst Tilburg, herplaatsing zeven schilderijen
2016 Muurschilderingen Dahl House - Minneapolis USA
2014 Ontwerp muurschilderingen en verlichting, Pastoor van Ars-Kerk van Aldo van Eyck, Den Haag
2013 NIFV-gebouw Arnhem, twee tegenoverliggende drieluiken 'Starry Night' I en II
2012 Winterpaleis, Menton France, ontwerp voor plafondschildering
2012 De Drie Linden school, Den Haag, plafond- en muurschildering
2011 Site-specific installatie 'Vliegend Tapijt' in het NIHA gebouw Ankara, Turkije
2009 Ontwerp Tulpproject, Den Haag
2008 Gemeente Rotterdam, nieuw schetsontwerp fonteinproject
2004 Van Nelle Ontwerpfabriek, Rotterdam, schetsontwerp in samenwerking met Cathy Hamstra
2000- Gemeente Rotterdam, ontwerp fonteinproject voor wijkpark Oude Westen
1998 Amnnesty International, Den Haag, schilderij
1996‑97 Gemeentearchief, Den Haag, plattegrond: veranderingen culturele gebouwen van 1863 tot 1996
1995 Schiphol Airport Haarlemmermeer, Amsterdam, ontwerp geluidsschermen
1994 Ivalo Huis, Den Haag, wandschilderingen
1992 Therfield School, Leatherhead UK, vloer- en wandschildering
1988 St. Stephens Church, Epsom UK, Epsom UK, ontwerp glas-appliqué ramen
1985 Het Buuthuis Gaslaan, Den Haag, glasmozaïek vloer
1984 Gemeenteloods Populierlaan, Rijswijk, gevelschilderingen
1984 Basisschool 'Het Lichtbaken' Den Haag, glas-appliqué raam
1983 Stadhuis, Hoorn, drieluik wandschilderingen
1981 Rijksbrandweeracademie, Arnhem, twee tegenoverliggende wandschilderingen
1981 Juliana kinderdagverblijf, Den Haag, installatie in centrale hal
1980 Sociaal-cultureel centrum Kraayenstein, Den Haag, bodemzonnewijzer, plein en speelplaats
1979 Westeinde Ziekenhuis, Den Haag, glas-appliqué ramen voor auditorium
1978 Winkelcentrum Kavaklidere, Ankara, Turkije, ontwerp bestrating en wandschildering
1977 Afghaanse ambassade, Ankara, Turkije, ontwerp wandschilderingen
1976 Belastingkantoor Kempkensberg, Groningen, heemtuin en vijver en serie zeven schilderijen
1970 De Inval, Doelenplein, Rotterdam, wandschildering in centrale hal

Tentoonstellingen:
2022 Acec - Apeldoorn, '50 jaar later', groepstentoonsteling
2017 Mimesia Gallery Den Haag, samen met Ferry Staverman
2014 mdbs (matthijs de boer stedenbouw) Rotterdam, 'Dubbel De Jong'
2010 Milli Reasürans Gallery, Istanbul. tentoonstelling 'Geometry' met Aksel Çoruh
2009 Open atelier route Segbroek, georganiseerd door Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
2007 Livingstone Gallery, Den Haag
2007 Queens University, Belfast, Noord Ierland, deelnemend kunstenaar aan workshop 'Migrant Art'
2006 Genootschap Kunstliefde, Utrecht
2006 Livingstone gallery, Den Haag
2006 Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht
2004 European Patent Office, Den Haag
2003 Livingstone gallery, Den Haag. Sol LeWitt en Petra de Jong
2000 Atrium Stadhuis, Den Haag', presentatie Culturele Plattegrond voor het Haags Gemeentearchief
1996 ABC architectuurcentrum, Haarlem, Installatie mobiele maquette met bijbehorende aquarellen

Publicaties/Interviews:
2019 Opgenomen in de biografie van Sol LeWitt: A life of Ideas - Larry Bloom (2019, pag. 167 t/m 169 en pag. 303)
2017 Interview Mimesia Gellery door René Bekker
2015 Interview door Lary Bloom voor biografie Sol leWitt
2014 Sol LeWitt Wall Drawings Raisonne - Artifex Press New York. Sol's assistent van 1970-1973
2011 Publicatie van de Belastingdienst, vroeger... zo anders dan nu, Kemkensberg Groningen
2011 In opdracht: Zestig jaar percentageregeling beeldende kunst bij Rijksgebouwen
2010 Catalogus 'Geometri', tentoonstelling in Milli Reasürans Gallery, Istanboel
2010 Mimarlik, architectuur/cultuur maandblad
Maison Française, binnenhuisarchitectuur/cultuur maandblad
Dekorasyon, review of architecture, interior design & fine art, maandblad
Bizim Gazete, dagblad. Hurriyet Daily News
Uc Radical en Bir Gün (2 dagbladen)
TV kanalen: CNN Türk en TRT 2,7
websites cultuur/architectuur

2009 Krant Gemeentemuseum - open atelier route Segbroek
2007 Interview met Günes Uz, Radio 5 - NPS
2004 Art in The European Patent Office, Den Haag, door Barbara Rollmann-Borretty
2003 Catalogus Flower Series, door Aksel Çoruh
2003 Catalogus Sol LeWitt, Livingstone gallery publicatie

Overige Activiteiten:
2019 Participerend kunstenaar in het onderzoek "Lerende Docenten in een Hogeschool" van Thea de Vries in het kader van interactie tussen kunst en wetenschap met de focus op de werkprocessen van de kunstenaar en 'n wetenschapper.
2018 Workshop “Patronen op paraplu’s” Beth El Aleph Preschool, Minneapolis USA
2017 Ontwerp en uitvoering van een zijden sjaal voor Stichting Haagse Tuin- en Plantenclub
2012 Workshop 'Patronen' groep 6,7 en 8 Drie Linden school met tentoonstelling in bibliotheek Den Haag
1997 - Curator internationale tentoonstellingen van hedendaagse Ghanese kunstenaars
1994 Aangesloten bij Stroom Den Haag

Collecties:

Collectie Sol LeWitt

Collectie Kunst en Monumenten Rijksvastgoedbedrijf

European Patent Office, Den Haag

OD 2005, Delft

Gemeentearchief, Den Haag

INTERVIEW MET PETRA DE JONG VOOR MIMESIA GALLERY, DEN HAAG

Petra de Jong’s work mesmerises as soon as it is viewed. Large swathes of meandering “rivers” are overlain on a bed of Turkish Geometric, repetitive tile patterns. The inner tension of which, she carefully balances out with a delicate touch. It’s so much like her character: she combines a background of not only living in the Netherlands, but also in the United Kingdom and Turkey, an impressive track record, and yet retained the restrained politeness. Thank you for your time in speaking with us, your exhibition here has already drawn many compliments and people standing almost transfixed in front of your work. We would like to offer our readers some additional information, to enjoy your work. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I studied at the Royal Academy of Art, here in The Hague between 1965 and 1970. That was my own doing by the way, my parents did not support me in that at all, and they actually forced me to leave home. As a result I was very much dependent on scholarships and odd jobs to survive. My determination and my personal drive helped me succeed in this. After my graduation in fine art and specifically monumental art, I wanted to broaden and deepen my knowledge, so in 1970 I attended the Technical University in Delft and studied, among others, city planning under Professor Niek de Boer. What were defining moments in your life and career? And how did they influence your work? A defining moment, I’m not sure whether it influenced my work by the way, was in 1970, when I had graduated. Some of my work was shown during a commission meeting in the Gemeentemuseum of The Hague. Their curator, Enno Develing, saw it and was enthusiastic about it. Right at that moment Sol LeWitt was about to have an exhibition. One of the components was a huge mural, and Enno asked me to execute that and find a crew who could do that. So yeah, that was a defining moment. Soll LeWitt and I became friends, and we cooperated on several of his murals in Holland and abroad. Working with him made me much more aware of the architectural aspects of my own visual language. Can you tell us a little bit about the style of your work? One could say its abstract poetic art. The basic elements of my works are transparency, movement, overlapping and rhythm. I am trying to achieve a simultaneity of movement and change in form and colour that continues beyond the borders of the canvas. Where do you draw your inspiration from? I’m inspired by landscapes, and dynamism in the galaxy. For instance a flowing river, or the effects of light reflecting upon it. Also I have been inspired by the rhythm of tile patterns that I found in Istanbul. These can be found all over the city in the most unlikely places, boathouses, fountains, bazars, mosques. It’s a beautiful visual language, which made me realise that in the west we have no comparable visual language like that. So I wanted to use and play with this abstract tile-geometry, break it up and overlap these repetitive patterns by flowing curving movements (rivers). What message are you trying to convey through your art? Recently I have started to use the basis of patterns in a more free way. Hence also the title of my recent work “Flying out of a pattern”. Still I use the geometric pattern, but lately I started to use this as a much more free flowing form. My desire in that is that the spectator takes part in the work by continuing with the forms and movements in his or her imagination. Who were your biggest influences and favorite artists? Of course, at the Royal Academy we were very much educated in modernism, and that influenced me, but I was much more drawn to Russian Suprematism. There I discovered a lot of movement, which stayed with me and my work since then. Frantisek Kupka is one of the obvious ones, but even Piero della Francesca. His delicate handling and the transparency in his fresco’s and paintings I always admired. Also Sol LeWitt’s work, especially his wall- drawings, using walls as a whole surface, appeals to me. Robert Irwin also needs to be mentioned here as an influence. Obviously, with such a distinguished career, people have talked and written about you. If someone were to research you, where would you want them to look? Well, I had an exhibition in Istanbul, in the Milli Reasürans Gallery. Cultural Anthropologist Maruška Svašek wrote in their catalogue about my work. And the curator of the European Patent Office in The Hague, Barbara Rollmann has also written about my work in the catalogue of their collection. Further Jeroen Dijkstra interviewed me when Sol LeWitt and I had an exhibition together in his gallery. Also an interview in a magazine of the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax-Office) about a wildlife garden I designed and carried out together with Grondmij around their tax-office in Groningen. Well, thank you for this interview, it was very enlightening and doing it here among your works has certainly given it an added dimension.
René Bekker