BOB BONIES 

1937, The Hague, Netherlands

The exhibition of Dutch artist Bob Bonies at the Závodný Gallery allows an insight look into the specific world of one of the founders and main protagonists of geometric abstraction in the 1960s in the Netherlands.

Bob Bonies deliberately follows up on the theoretical foundations of architects and artists who formed a common platform, publicly known as the De Stijl movement / also called neooplasticism, active in the years 1917 - 1931. Members of the movement were for instance P. Mondrian, T. Doesburg, B. von der Lecken… /.

As a head of the Hague Academy /1988-2001/, Bob Bonies incorporates the ideas of De Stijl movement, particularly the use of a defined colour range, a strictly defined form of painting and inspiration in the Russian avant-garde, not only in architecture and design but also in the study programs.

 Josef Albers' theory – Unique in many and Many in unique - can easily be applied to Bonies' life artwork. His primary choice are three primary colours - red, yellow and blue, together with the complementary green and neutral white. The basic shape is a square in different positions. A search for a composition and format of the final painting, often consisting in several parts of canvases, is very specific and unique to Bob Bonies art.

The interaction of coloured surfaces and the resulting shape of wall relief gives to Bob Bonies a large number of possibilities and variations, to gradually explore. However, unlike most constructivists, he does not work in series. The initial drawing or sketch always precedes the final, often large-format realization.

The first solo exhibition of Bob Bonies took place in 1960 in Stockholm / Gallery Observatorium /. Another significant exhibition was Formen der Farben at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam in 1966, which was further shown also in Bern and Stuttgart. The exhibition presented also the works of J. Albers, M. Bill, D. Judd, E. Kelly, R. P. Lohse, B. Newman, F. Stella…

In the 1970s and 1980s, Bob Bonies continues to work on realizations in architecture and starts to explore combinations of visual and dance art. He also collaborates with classical music composer Simeon ten Holt who explores the relations between music, fine arts and mathematics. Another interesting collaborator was famous Dutch fashion designer Frans Molenaar.

Currently Bob Bonies lives and works in The Hague, his works are part of public and private collections around the world.