Monograph

Johnny Rolf
Monograph

In 1996 the Singer Museum, Laren, Netherlands, held a retrospective exhibition of my ceramics and gouaches
on the occasion of my sixtieth birthday.
At the opening a monograph on me and my work was presented.
The book portrays my art from the early years onwards. It struck me to see confirmed, that my work in clay
shows one continuous stream of related forms and images. One piece seems to create room for the next,
which then continues a thread of thought, a flow of feeling or provides a contrasting image.
My clay sculptures, often with figures but not figurative, not stories but poems in clay, at moments look
as if made at random but in hindsight a clear, if meandering path is visible.
Memories and impressions of journeys I've made have become part of the fabric of my work.
It seems to me as if each object made is a brick and together these bricks form a dwelling that must be me.
Not surprising that in many of my works walls play a part.
My drawings and paintings form a similar stream of thoughts, images and colors.
Often my ceramics inspired drawings and drawings set me on the road to new sculptures.
I would like to show you some of each.

The monograph:

Johnny Rolf
haar keramiek haar gouaches / her ceramics her gouaches

ISBN 90-72853-10-5
Published by the Singer Museum, Laren, and Jan de Rooden, Amsterdam, 1996.
Design: Harry Veltman .

Obtainable from:
Johnny Rolf-Jan de Rooden, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Authors:
Emke Raassen-Kruimel, Historian of Art and Keeper Singer Museum, Laren,
Netherlands
Amy van Marken, Professor of Scandinavian Languages, Groningen, Netherlands
Neil Stratford, Keeper Medieval and Later Antiquities, The British Museum,
London, England
Christiaan Berendsen, journalist, Editor-in-Chief, Het Financiëele Dagblad
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jan de Rooden, ceramic artist
Johnny Rolf, biographical notes.

231 pages, 152 photographs of which 76 are in color, size 30.5 x 25 cm.
The book's edition consists of 1000 copies.