After graduating from my studies British and American literature--at the University of Leiden and UNC at Chapel Hill, USA--I picked up an older ambition, that of becoming a painter, and went to the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Lessons during the first year there convinced me I shouldn't be a painter, for one thing, because I got to believe in the idea that the medium should be appropriated to the content, and the medium should not be picked whatever the content will be.
I graduated one year early with a photo project in 2000, titled "Having a relationship with a second version of yourself", and my work was picked up from the graduation exhibition of the academy by one of the better galleries of the Netherlands, De Praktijk in Amsterdam. After that a number of exhibitions and grants followed, which stimulated me in the idea that I was on the right track. In 2009 the owner of my gallery became a pensioner and I decided to use that as an incentive to start the project that has now resulted in my novel "Animal Jan." I will betray my original beliefs: nothing suits me better than writing, whatever the content will be. I have just started looking for an agent.
Hans de Vries von Mengden, 4 February 2014
Curriculum Vitae
...De Vries von Mengden, Hans Edward Jan
...Telephone: 0616060416, email: [email protected]
Education:
...English language and literature, university of Leiden,
1987-1993, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
USA, 1992-1993
...Rietveldacademie, department Autonoom Sculptuur, 1996-2000
Work (art):
...Installations for dance festival Julidans 1999 in front of and in
de Stadsschouwburg (city theatre), theater Bellevue and
Paradiso, groupproject, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
..."Relationship with a second version of yourself", exhibition at
gallery De Praktijk, 2000
..."We’re back ", groupexhibition at gallery De Praktijk, 2001
..."Heroeman", exhibition at gallery De Praktijk, 2002
..."Fraternal Strife", lecture at free masons lodge Willem Frederik
Karel, 2003
..."Boys’ Mythology/"First, are you our sort of a person?"',
exhibition at gallery De Praktijk, 2004
...Film stills "Waterloo (1970)" and video "autoSiamese" in Het
Ketelhuis, Amsterdam, 2004
…Art and War, traveling group exhibition organized by the province
of North Holland, 2004--
…”Art and Science”, lecture at society Probus, Overveen, The
Netherlands, 2005
…”Introducing a Person into Fellini’s Satyricon”, installation,
exhibition at gallery De Praktijk, 2005
…”Nightsuns”, 8 photos, exhibition at gallery De Praktijk, 2007
…”Nightwork”, 32 photos in the Artwalk, Amsterdam, 2007
…”Grande Finale”, 3 photos in a groupexhibition at gallery De Praktijk, 2007
...presentation of two scenes from the movie "Animal" at society Lost and Found at De Waag, Amsterdam, 2008
...Curation of photo exhibition "Non Exotic" in The Artwalk, Amsterdam, 2008
...Group exhibition of new members of artists' society Arti, at Arti, Amsterdam, 2009
...Video "Diving is dangerous" at the Oerol Festival, Terschelling, 2009
...Group exhibition De Salon, Arti, Amsterdam,2009
...Stipend from the Fonds voor de Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst,
2001
...Stipend from the Fonds voor de Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst,
2004
...Stipend from the Fonds voor de Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst, 2008
Publication: -“Wild men on horseback”, article in NRC Handelsblad,
2002, Maartje Somers
-“Slightly raped”, essay in NRC Handelsblad, 2005,
Pam Emmerick
-“Met Stip”, catalogue from the Fonds voor
de Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst, 2007