The Dutch artist Erwin Christiaan Adema

May 11

My friend Frans called me last month, telling me that his brother from another mother, the artist Erwin Christiaan Adema, had died… Which, I guess, hit me harder than it’s supposed to? Close, personal friend of a friend and all? We, Erwin and I, had worked together on a bigger project one time, and that was a young person’s life time ago… We never really… Still very proud of said co-operation, but still? … Yeah. Enniehoe, I’m sure I’ll be leaving out a lot of stuff I just never learned/heard about since we lost touch, but none the less (and after some rigorous googling) I’m going to try my darnest to do him and his art justice in this feature article:

‍ ‍ *Erwin and his piece ‘So the Bunny’: 170×60×60 cm, 2014, sculpture/mixed media*

Erwin had a bachelor of the Arts in Painting (B.A.) from the Minerva Academie (1996-2000), around the time Frans and he met, continued by a Master of Fine Arts in Painting (M.F.A.) at the Frank More Institute (2000-2002). In 2002 and 2003 he worked as an artist’s assistent at the Atelier Van Lieshout, while also taking several courses in classical philosophy. During his time as an artist he worked several bill paying jobs, like in logistics and art education projects to increase social cohesion for the city of Rotterdam. Up until the time of his wat to early death he was a volunteer exhibitions and education at the TEMTEM art centre.‍ ‍

*One of Erwin’s last* *exhibitions! +* *Here’s a link* *to an older one.*

The artist himself about his way of working/method/philosophy as stated on his website:

“My art can be divided into 3 catagories:

Artist
Tinkerer
Hermit

These categories are a result of wanting to understand the diversity of feelings, desires and convictions better. Placing all of those different energies in one of those 3 helps me make sense of them better. This understanding then makes it possible for me to form ideas more easily and canalize/express these into language images/image works, resulting in a diary of looking at life. Being human, and my existence as one.
My search for this need to understand my place in the world, led to these catagories, I guess you could say. Each category works together with the other two and together they form a overview/oeuvre through which I try to understand the world and answer the questions that arise during and outside of my creatieve process.”

*‘Line Treu’, 30 × 40 cm, 2013, Two dimensional, marker/crayon/pencil. More drawings* *here*.

The Artist

“The themes that arise from these initial ideas are being captured in concept sketches and drawings, which will evolve into objects, sculptures, collages, paintings etc. The artist gives an answer, makes his statement. He conveys, confronts, enjoys, gives and confuses. He parleys with the tinkerer and gets inspired by the hermit.”

*‘What do you think when you walk away’, 2002, Sculpture, Paper. More text based work* *here*.

The Tinkerer

“The tinkerer is the child in me that finds stuff out by searching. He creates instinctively, tries and repeats combinations, adds or detracts. He states his findings and orders his chaos. Tries to understand and allows creation. He’s dynamic and always just out of reach, sees possibilities and is always in motion. A gatherer of impressions and experiences, he reassesses, contemplates and shapes. Speaks to the hermit and parleys with the artist.”

*‘Without explanation’, 65 × 110 × 10000 cm, 2004, Sculpture, Wood. More of his instillations* *here*.

The Hermit

“The Hermit is lonely, melancholic and lost in thought. Worries. Lost in the twilight of momentum. Looking for universal laws. Doubts out of powerlessness and is insecure. He brings the difficulties within the created chaos to light. He has no hold, there is just the duality of conscious.
He asks: who am I?
Why, how, what?
He does all of this together with the Artist and Tinkerer.”

*‘Which What Human’, 20 × 30 cm, Two dimensional, Collage. More of his collages* *here.*

Personal favorite

Looking at his body of work my personal favorites have to be his ‘Eurekia’ series? Somehow, somewhere, this not quite bunny kinda shape/figure/character entered his work, and it simply refused to leave again? Again, in his own words:

“Eurekia is a reference to the artist’s or inner child’s creative world of ideas, questioning the world in all het many facets.

These characters are a cause to think about life, one’s position in it, the individual, the world and the child like questions of the why, how and what.

The paintings/drawings/sculptures tell their individual stories, but also communicate a shared visual story, creating a unique dynamic. A tale, a life story, a playing field for thought.”

Here’s a spoiler for our 4th issue!

*‘Eurekia four seasons’, no further info available. More ‘Eurekia’* *right here!*

Conclusion

Like Frans, Erwin was an artist pur sang. I’ve always been a bit jealous about this seemingly… inevitable path this leads to in one’s life. Being able to sometimes be more… pragmatic in the choices we make to stay afloat does distract from the creative process that’s such a prominent guiding force in people like both of them. And in and of itself brings its own sets of head aches and issues, no doubt? I never did learn on what day Erwin died, exactly, or how, and to be honest I don’t really want to call Frans about those specifics? No need. He lived for his work, so here’s to that beautiful body! Very happy to be able, in this little way, to help preserve it.

Back

Benne van der Velde

After thoroughly enjoying the Dutch slam poetry scene in the early and mid 2000s (with wins in 7 cities and eventually a place in the Nationals of 2012) and performances at the Lowlands-, Uitmarkt- and Parade festivals a/o, Benne successfully made the transition from the stage to paper by signing his first publishing deal in 2005. Since then 4 publishing houses (kleine Uil, Douane, Nadorst and Stanza) released volumes of his poetry. For a 5th (Passage) he co-edited an anthology of satirical/pamphlet poetry with fellow poets Daniel Dee and Alexis de Roode.

As a member of the artist movement ‘Het Ongeboren Idee’ he helped to organize (and was part of/presented) cultural lo-fi festivals, exhibitions, making a movie, monthly poetry stages in his hometown of Vlaardingen (Poezie in De Steeg), Rotterdam (De Poetsclub) and Nijmegen (Late Letteren Live) + a talent show for bands.

In 2002 and 2003 he studied ‘writing for performance’ at the vocational university of the Arts in the city of Utrecht (HKU) and as a result saw 3 of his theater plays make it to a stage. Writer Hiekelien van den Herik and he co-wrote a knight spectacle play complete with real choreographed sword fights, men in heavy plate armor and more great stuff like that. Theater-/enactment group Ridderspoor performed said play in 2004 and 2005 at Het Archeon, during De Kasteeldagen and at an Elfia-fantasy fair. He also gave numerous poetry and rap workshops at schools and other institutions. There were a lot of collabs too, for example voice-over work for a Rock Opera, a monumental art project for which he partnered up with the artist Erwin Adema and thrice alongside the R.J.S.O (The Rotterdam Youth Symphony Orchestra).

Benne has been an editor for several literary magazines (Krakatau, Renaissance and Op Ruwe Planken), at one time he and his wife owned a secondhand bookstore, he’s been the official poet laureate for his hometown of Vlaardingen and released his first and only Dutch rap-EP in 2011. In 2012 he rapped his way into the finals of Art Rocks. An EP with songs in English followed in 2021. A year later he started translating Dutch musical and lyrical classics from Dutch into English, and vice versa. Some of his short sci-fi and fantasy stories have found their way to medium related websites, magazines and anthology’s.

According to the poet himself rewriting his own poetry, lyrics and prose in English somehow feels like the next logical step in his career, a way to open up to the world at large. Which is both exhilarating and terrifying. So far several of these translations have been published in Bebarbar, Hare’s paw, Festivalforpoetry, Punt Volat, The Dewdrop, The Dillydoun Review and Months to Years a/o.

In everyday (some claim real) life he worked as an industrial tank cleaner, in pest control, on a garbage truck, driving a forklift, in a chemical waste facility, on a Ferry and 10 years as a bartender in a cannabis bar. At the time of writing this resume he can be found at home or in the hospital battling throat cancer. He’s been off the Herb since 2008, has a wife, 2 dogs, mild anxiety issues and likes to read every sci-fi and fantasy classic he can find.

www.linkedin.com/in/benne-van-der-velde-8b17a7296

The poet/lyricist and author Rob Chrispijn: ‘Benne writes sentences that stick; clean, dark and intense. This way a poem lasts!’

The poet Philip Hoorne on the website Poetry rapport: ‘There’s a genius hiding in Benne van der Velde, those are the Good Tidings of today. Amen.’

https://www.doubledutchmagazine.com