Dominic van den Boogerd on René Daniëls

Daniëls participated in important international exhibitions such as Westkunst Heute (Cologne, 1981), Zeitgeist (Berlin, 1982) and Documenta 7 (Kassel, 1982). In the midst of the overheated art market of the early 1980s, Daniëls retained a unique position. He knew how to combine the pleasure of painting with critical, poetic and humorous allusions to the art world and to being an artist. Van den Boogerd discusses Daniëls’ work based on his own memories and on the correspondence from the time he was a student of Daniëls and stayed with the artist in New York in 1984, while Daniëls was preparing his first exhibition at Metro Pictures.

On 25 January, René Daniëls received the lifelong achievement award from the Fonds BKVB. To download the jury report, click here (Dutch only).

Dominic van den Boogerd (b. 1959) is director of De Ateliers in Amsterdam (since 1995), guest lecturer at the Fachhochschule für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bern and the Institute of Technology/Fine Arts, Dublin. Van den Boogerd has been active as an art critic since 1983 with publications in HP/De Tijd, Metropolis M, Parkett, Frieze, De Witte Raaf, Stedelijk Museum Bulletin and Art Papers. From 1993 until 1995, he was chief editor for Metropolis M. He is co-author of Marlene Dumas in the Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series (1999).