Dominic van en Boogerd, Rudi Fuchs, Erik Hagoort

Rob Birza
Cold Fusion

Design: DEPT, Illustrated (colour and b/w), paperback, 144 pages, 24 X 28 cm
Text in English/ Dutch, ISBN 90-5662-175-0 / 978-90-5662-175-9, € 24.95 OUT OF PRINT

In association with Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Rob Birza (Geldrop, 1962) is one of the most striking of the young generation of artists in the Netherlands. His oeuvre ranges over paintings, sculptures, videos and installations. Birza is a master of changes of position. He draws freely on different styles and genres from the history of art, non-western traditions and mass culture. His aesthetic preference is for everything that is redundant and eccentric, for sweet decadence, cheap sentiment and empty decoration. He experiments in his work with materials like wheel hubs, pieces of rubber and carpet, and Sixties furniture and lighting. He courageously walks the tight-rope between good and the extravagant, passionate gesture characterise both the abstract paintings and the floral still lifes, installations and ceramic figures.

Cold Fusion is an overview of Birza's multi-facetted oeuvre of the last ten years and brings out the qualities that link the different series of works. The publication contains an introduction by Rudi Fuchs, an in-depth essay on Birza's work by art critic Dominic van den Boogerd, and an interview with the artist on his sources by theologian and critic Erik Hagoort