Jan Henderikse. MINT

Since the 1950s, Henderikse’s work has developed beyond the traditional notions of painting and sculpture, to redefine the coordinates of artistic imagery: first, by neutralizing the surface into the monochrome; then, since 1959, by employing unconventional materials and techniques in “allover” compositions that mark his distinctive language. Looking for everyday used objects (such as empty creates, bottles, corks, license plates, coins, bills, parts of toys, found photographs, and others), which he perceives as loaded with human and emotional content and interest, Henderikse combines them into assemblages and serial accumulations, sequences and multimedia installations, in order to show the immediate power of their significance. As objects taken directly from the world and left in their original state, they speak of the instants of life they belonged to, and rationalize this emotional load into a suspended poetic image, creating an immediate empathy with the viewer. This potential multiplicity of references implicit in every object is exemplified by the title of the show, as the word “mint” can indicate three different kinds of items: a candy, a coin or a precious thing in perfect conditions (“mint condition”). Henderikse’s work is intended to disclose precisely this inevitable and poetic clash between pleasure and value, transient and permanent, ordinary and extraordinary.