Exactitudes
Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek are Dutch artists fascinated by society and its ongoing changes. Better known as a team than as individuals, the pair works together under the name Exactitudes, which is also the name of their long-time project that they began in the early 1990s.
Dutch Telekom had commissioned them to portray Dutch youth culture, and that task has since turned into their personal project. Exactitudes recalls the very moment it happened – New Year’s Eve, 1993: “We got half-drunken in our studio, did not go to any party, but decided to go on with the project. Exactitudes was born,” they say. “The week after, we went to ‚A Nightmare‘, a real big gabber party in the Netherlands. We photographed gabbers. Next was the Gabberbitches, whereupon we worked on a series about gays whom we just spotted coincidentally in a bar. The series was called Casual Queers. Everything developed organically.”
Exactitudes has since enlarged to 136 series of different stereotypes, each speaking for themselves. We met them in Cologne. They had their first exhibition in Germany at Ruttkowski;68. Read more »
ECB / Hendrik Beikirch
German artist Hendrik Beikirch proves that graffiti can be art. Instead of transferring images from concrete walls and train carriages on to more accepted media, he picturizes people. The result is a series of stunning murals that make a statement in any space they occupy – indoor or outside.
We spent the day with Beikirch at his home village near Koblenz. Aside from his art, he also expresses a passion for American culture, saying glibly that “bus drivers are more friendly there.” But when pressed again, Beikirch – also known by his artistic name ECB – became more precise. Read more »
