Liet Heringa (’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, 1966) and Maarten van Kalsbeek (Oegstgeest, The Netherlands, 1962) have been working as artists duo Heringa/Van Kalsbeek since 1998, they live and work in Amsterdam.
Their sculptures evolve out of a process of action and reaction: one continues where the other stops. Tranquil pieces of liquid synthetic resin, ceramic objects – artificial flowers, casts of corals, strange and warped objects – are fixed onto metal and wooden frames. As if they are painting in space. Heringa/Van Kalsbeek experience this continuous process of molding, curing, turning and molding once again, as a capricious adventure: when one gives the sculpture an unexpected twist, the other has to come up with an equally convincing move. This way a lamination emerges in their works, in a literal and figurative sense. The sculptures are the results of experiment and coincidence: a jumble of materials, colors and lines that form a coherent sculpture in their extremes. They are raw and beautiful at the same time, sculptures with neither beginning nor end. The work of Heringa/Van Kalsbeek is in a way a collage: different elements are put together and form a new shape, a new organism, a new landscape.
Their work is shown in museums in England, Germany, Italy, Korea and The Netherlands. Their work is represented in many collections all over the world. In 2007 they had a solo exhibition Cruel Bonsai, in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. This exhibition gave a good insight in the development of their work and was very well received by the critics and public.
Heringa/Van Kalsbeek draw their inspiration from the balance between the wonderful and the cruel sides of nature. The dead body of a zebra on the savanna, of which the rib cage becomes visible because vultures are rooting about in it. A prickly cactus, the pleasant inside of a tropical flower, blossoming Cherry trees in spring. But also: entangled fishing nets on a quayside, embroidered traditional costume, Asian wooden sculptures and 16th-17th century Dutch still life paintings. The flip between nature and culture is essential in our work; the transformation from art to a natural object and back again.
EDUCATION
1988-1990 Ateliers ‘63, Haarlem
1987-1988 Middlesex Polytechnic School of Art, London, England
1984-1987 Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023-2024 Springvloed (Spring Tide), Kunstmuseum The Hague, Den Haag,
The Netherlands
2023 Study for The Grey Tree (After Mondrian), BorzoGallery, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
2022 Stains of Time, Celadon Terra Cotta, Alfred, New York, NY, USA
2020 Made in Japan, Salon aan het Singel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2019 Common ground 2: connect in color, Akzo Nobel Art Space Amsterdam
2018 Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Heringa/Van Klasbeek/16th and 17th century paintings
2015 Night Catch, sculptures of Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Stedelijk Museum ‘s Hertogenbosch
2013 Van Gogh Galerie, Zundert
2011 Run Silent, Sugar City, Halfweg
2010 Anna Klinkhammer, Galerie, Düsseldorf (GR)
PROLONG 2010, Lowlands Festival and Museum de Fundatie, Heino
2009 Vegas Gallery, London
PROLONG 2009, Lowlands Festival and Museum de Fundatie, Heino
Country Trash, Museum de Fundatie, Heino
2008 PROLONG 2008, Lowlands Festival and Museum de Fundatie, Heino
2007 Cruel Bonsai-Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam
Bird Works, Museum Tongerlohuys, Roosendaal
2006 Galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag
2005 Galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag
Les Néerlandais Voyageurs, Ed van der Elsken, Roy Villevoye, Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Institut Néerlandais, Paris
2003 Galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag
De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam
2001 ABSORB, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag
2000 Haags Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag
1998 Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, Diepenheim
1997 Museum van Nagsael, Rotterdam
Galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag
Bedekt Bloeiend, Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Art Rotterdam, Borzo Gallery
2020-2023 Collection presentation, Kunstmuseum Den Haag
2020 Collection presentation, Kröller Müller Museum, Otterlo
Nabeeld, Park Platform for Visual Arts, Tilburg
2019 Innenraum, Koen Vermeule, Arjan van Helmond, Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Ronald Zuurmond, Galerie Anja Knoess - Köln (GR)
Aanwinsten 2018, De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam
2018 Elspeth Diederix, The Miracle Garden, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
Color & Abstraction, Textiel Museum, Tilburg
The Collection Stedelijk Base, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
2017 So It Grows! An Intimate Eye, Collection Swagemakers, Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Gallery Borzo-Art Rotterdam
Well Made. In praise of the creative process, Kunsthal Kade, Amersfoort
2016 Fringes of Beauty, TextileMuseum, Tilburg
Renewed Past, Coda museum Apeldoorn
The ABC of Collecting, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
2015 Paradijs, Buitenplaats Beeckestijn
Borzo, Art Rotterdam
2014 Natuurkracht, Coda Museum Apeldoorn
Borzo, Art Brussels
Borzo, Raw Art Fair, Rotterdam
Facing Nature, Collectie De Heus - Zomer, Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen- Oranjewoud
2013 Art Duo Art, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam
The Multiple Show 3, Vous Etes Ici, Amsterdam
De Grote Kunstshow, Stadschouwburg Amsterdam
Cobra tot Dumas, Collectie De Heus-Zomer, Singer Museum Laren
Tefaf Maastricht, Galerie Borzo
Vanitas: Contemporary Reflections, Moscow Museum of Modern Art , Moscow
Expose, Kröller-Müller museum, Otterlo, Netherlands
Verlangen Naar Volmaaktheid, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands
2012 Collector’s Items No.4: ‘Reconnaissance – Dutch Collectors’ Eyes & Some of the Places They Look’
Dutch Cultural Pop-Up Projects, London
The Courtauld Institute’s East Wing Exhibition, London
2011 Volta, Basel, Vegas Gallery, Londen
Atelier 60 Kunstenaarsportretten, Vishal, Haarlem
Art Amsterdam, Vegas Gallery, London
London Art Fair, Vegas Gallery, London
2010 Rood, Tropen museum, Amsterdam
Virgin, Seoul, Korea
Art Amsterdam, Vegas Gallery, Amsterdam
Andrea Lehmann, Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Rik Meijers, Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries, Amsterdam
2009 New Loves, recent acquisitions, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof Leeuwarden
Collectors’ Items, The Dutch Cultural Pop-Up Space, London
I am by birth a Genovese, Vegas Gallery, London
I am by birth a Genovese, Forde Gallery, Geneva
Art Minded V: Ron Klein Breteler Collection, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
Heringa/Van Kalsbeek at Art Brussels Aschenbach Hofland Galleries
Ad Infinitum Part I, Vegas Gallery, London
Works of Heringa/Van Kalsbeek at Frans Leidelmeijer, TEFAF, Maastricht
2008 Art Leaves Home: Otto L. Schaap Content Art Consumer, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
2007 Contour / continuïteit, Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft
2006 Van de Velde vleugel weer open; collectie schittert als nooit te voren, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
De collectie Sanders, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Mysterieus Celadon, Princessehof, Leeuwarden
Attese Biennale Ceramica Arte Contemporanea, Albisola (It.)
2005 HxBxD = De Rabo Kunstcollectie, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag
Trans-Ceramic-Art,The 3rd World Ceramic Biennale 2005, Korea
2004 Keine Angst vor Schönheit, Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Sandra Munzel, Michael Nitsche,
Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, Bremen (GR)
Bodytalk, Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen
Bloemen van verlangen, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede
Van Airut tot Uppik, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
2002 Blur, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
KunstRAI, Galerie Nouvelles Images, Amsterdam
Best Verzorgde Boeken, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
2001 Slib, Dutch and British artists working with ceramics,
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich (GB)
Slib, Dutch and British artists working with ceramics, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
Contemporary Art from The Netherlands, European Central Bank, Frankfurt-am-Main (GR)
2000 Flaming Youth, 10 jaar tentoonstellingen Jonge Kunstenaars,
Galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag
KunstRAI, Galerie Nouvelles Images, Amsterdam
Appel van Newton, Lokaal 01, Breda
Huiskamers? Schatkamers! Kunst van Vrienden, Paleis Lange Voorhout, Den Haag
1999 KunstRAI, Galerie Nouvelles Images, Amsterdam
West Art of Now Award, KunstRAI, Amsterdam
Nederlandse Beeldhouwkunst, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Wereld van Verschil, Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem
Mutatis Mutandis, Stedelijk Museum, Zwolle
VSB prijs Beeldende Kunsten, Schiedam
Bloemen en Herrie, Galerie Waalkens, Finsterwolde
Dorothea von Stetten-Kunstpreis, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn (GR)
1998 Tuinsculptuur, Vleeshal, Haarlem
1997 Aanwinsten, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Klein Sculptuur, Stedelijke Musea, Gouda
COMMISSIONS
2023 Hermès, Amsterdam (upcoming)
2020 Hart van Austerlitz, Austserlitz
Erasmus MC, Rotterdam
Sculpture for garden - private collectors, Wassenaar
Hermès, Tokyo Japan
2019 Sculpture for garden - private collectors, Portugal
2017 Sculpture in honor of Jakoba Mulder, Beatrixpark Amsterdam
2015 Textile Museum Tilburg
2012 De Stee, Teteringen
2009 Arcadis Nederland, Amersfoort
Hogewey, Weesp
2006 ABN AMRO, IJsseltoren, Zwolle
2005 Theodoor Gilissen, Amsterdam
2002 European Patent Office, Rijswijk
Basisschool De Rank, Sassenheim (Kunst en Bedrijf)
2001 Waterschap Veluwe, Apeldoorn
Gemeente Amstelveen
1999 Hogeschool Utrecht, Faculteit Gezondheidszorg
1998 P.I. te Ter Apel (Rijksgebouwendienst)
1995 Rijksinrichting voor jongens, de Hartelborgt, Spijkenisse (Rijksgebouwendienst)
1993 Beeld voor de BKB, Amsterdam
1992 Belastingkantoor Alkmaar (Rijksgebouwendienst)
COLLECTIONS
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Kunstmuseum, Den Haag
Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem
Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam
MuseumgoudA, Gouda
Princessehof, Leeuwarden
Museum de Fundatie, Heino
Vincent van GoghHuis, Zundert
Textiel Museum, Tilburg
Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, NYSCC, Alfred, NY, US
World Ceramic Biennale, Korea
Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Arnhem
ABN AMRO Art Foundation, Amsterdam
Rabobank Kunstcollectie
Interpolis, Tilburg
Achmea Kunstcollectie
Minsterie van Buitenlandse Zaken
De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam
Houthoff Buruma, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Arcadis Nederland
DSM
Theodoor Gillissen
Aegon
Ahold Kunst Stichting
UMC Utrecht
Achmea
Andaz
LeasePlan
European Patent Office
ABP Investements
VUMC Amsterdam
Private Collections