A COUCH TO MATCH THE PAINTING Henk Stallinga

A COUCH TO MATCH THE PAINTING
Henk Stallinga en Jan van der Ploeg

At New Dakota Centre of Contemporary Art

Couch and Painting A genre ridiculed in public, but secretly enjoyed; the ‘couch painting’ has a bad reputation.  Yet, the unbreakable but limited connection between the couch and the painting is the subject of Henk Stallinga’s latest installation ‘A couch to Match the Painting’. Exhibited at Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam, 11.01/08.02.Anti-Illusionist Stallinga is not merely revers­ing the resentment against the couch painting. He reduces the painting to what it re­ally is: an object made of the materials stretcher frame and canvas. So the connection between the couch and the painting is not being affirmed, but stripped down to its constituent parts and redefined. 
13 Installations  ‘A couch to match the painting’ is one of the 13 installations that are being made for an international museum exhibition in Japan. Prior to this exhibition the works will be on display on various locations. Earlier Stallinga showed ‘waiting in the hallway’ at the Music Hall in Amsterdam and ‘Lounge Chairs’ at Museum Sculptures at Sea in The Hague.
Duo presentation Henk Stallinga and Jan van der Ploeg The installation is exhibited in a duo presentation with Jan van der Ploeg’s Wall Painting no. 397. Whereas Stallinga reduces the painting to its bare material essence of canvas and frame, simply existing in space, Jan van der Ploeg, by contrast, elevates the wall into a canvas