Karel Martens: Motion
Karel Martens has ten hands for every finger. He’s an artist, a typographer, a graphic designer, a bookmaker, and an educator. He co-founded Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem. ‘Motion’ will afford a compound view on an expansive practice, and chart a road map. Yet while all of that spans over 50 years of Martens inter-disciplinary activity, the exhibition will remain grounded firmly in the present (and future).
Of course, the exhibition will include some representative works — mono-prints of and on found materials, paper reliefs, videos, modular wallpapers, kinetic sculptures, a very early optical work. Consider all of that a contextual substrate that corroborates Marten’s responsive and systematic approach to color, format, type, and material.
In other words, Motion is not intended to display Martens’ practice, but instead as an embodied demonstration of his method.
This exhibition is part of the 019’s Museum of Moving Practice with the support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Exhibition ‘Karel Martens: Motion’
Museum of Moving Practice 019
Design museum Gent
29 June – 30 July, 2017
www.designmuseumgent.be
Photos: Johannes schwarz and Michiel De Cleene