Lifelong research: what is essence?
The statement 'I Am Transparent' at the end of Madama's formal education at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam marked the start of a career in which this theme manifested itself in different forms. In this presentation the connection in her diverse and rich oeuvre becomes apparent.
Cosmic Eye, aquarel, 60 x 50 cm, 1968.
Performance ‘The White Death, the ritualistic murder of a painting in order to attain
the face of space’.
In the ’70's Madama participated in artist collectives like UMA, she had an exhibition and performance at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. She developed three disciplines: visual art, music (autodidact piano) and poetry that she combined in performances.Transmutation, mixed media op papier, 60 x 80 cm, 1979
The ’80's
Madama's study and interest in other cultures manifested itself in her transcultural gallery in Amsterdam: Villa Baranka, she presented visual arts from 'developing countries' with performances and dinners, a new phenomenon at the time.
An integral approach in which different disciplines and senses played a part.
Madama travelled on study trips to Curacao, and Sri Lanka and used these influences in her transcultural paintings, vivid, colourful and trans figurative.
She had exhibitions among others in Curacao, Venezuela, New York, Germany, and different leading galleries in the Netherlands.
Shulamith, aquarel, 70 x 100 cm, 1983
Liefde van Curaçao, pastel, 70 x 100 cm, 1984
La Realité Mythique, mixed media on paper, 40 x 50cm, 1981
De Maangodin, gouache, 70 x 100 cm, 1986
Apicalypso, mixed media on paper, 60 x 80 cm,1988
The Faun, Nijinsky serie, aquarel, 50 x 65 cm, 1987
’90's
Madama's research in the '90's into the relation between inside/outside led to a series of 26 paintings and an exhibition Trans-Lux. It was the result of a study trip to Egypt and at the same time a turning point in her approach to art and the work she had made so far.
She took the painting out of the frame and she paints unframed canvases on both sides in different formats that you can touch, roll and take with you. They are the scores for the concerts/performances that she gave in Capella Almadama, Art & Education Centre in Amersfoort, where very 6 weeks a new show of her work opened in combination with a concert where she also sang her poems. She also gives workshops for various groups. She had exhibitions in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
Thoth, acrylic on canvas, 137 x 85 cm, 1996
Opus Magnum,diptych, acrylic on canvas 137 x 170 cm, 1996
Atlantis, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, with silverleaf 118 x 96 cm, 1998 verso
Pranadama Rosado, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, with goldleaf, 118 x 96 cm, 1998, recto.
Compass of Trust, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 150 x 150 cm, 1999, verso
Kompas van Vertrouwen, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 150 x 150 cm, 1999, recto
Example of exposition at DHV Amersfoort with 2 sides unframed paintongs,
21st Century
In 2002 Madama moves to Maria Hoop (L). She founds the Centre for Healing and Beauty. She devotes herself to further research into essence. The result is an extraordinary collection of art works in which (trans) figuration dissolves more and more into 'abstract' work in the meaning of compressed energy in smaller and larger formats. For example the Pi series but also the 2 sides painted unframed canvases or scrolls. She also writes three books* which connect creativity and spirituality. In particular her book, 'The New Stream, Medicine Art form the Heart', has a wonderful selection of her extensive oeuvre over the last 40 years. (366 paintings and poems) in English-Dutch. It is also the start of a movement.
For Madama Art has always been a means to communication and self-realisation, not just for herself but also other people can benefit from these insights.
She addresses people 'to the living stream, the source' their creative potential in themselves. That is not static and unilateral, but multi-coloured and developing continuously.
Madama is co-founder of ArtofLifeMastershipAcademy (ALMA) in which coaching, courses, workshops and training take place.
Her most recent visual art consists of monochromes with structures.
Madama is a committed artist in the tradition of Klee: 'Making the invisible, visible'; Yves Klein with his emphasis on 'the immaterial'; Newman, 'space' and Michelangelo 'incarnation'; Picasso 'innovation of forms' and Hilma Af Klint, 'spiritual-abstract'.
Madama gives performances, workshops and lectures, she empowers people sessions to develop their own unique talent.
See also the article 'Humanity in Art' by Ida Guinée Ph.D
*Hemelpoorten, Gates to Heaven, oracle book with 39 images, poems, cards and workbook. Published by Koppenhol, Hilversum, 2005. ISBN 90 8508 042 8
Ik Ben Maria Hoop, de kwetsbare kracht van dienstbaarheid in gelijkwaardigheid,
I Am Mary Hope, the vulnerable strength of servitude in equality, with 10 images, Pubished by Elikser, Leeuwarden, 2010. ISBN 978 90 8954 251 9
De Nieuwe Stroming, Kunst als Medicijn van Zijn, The New Stream, Medicine art from the Heart. In English-Dutch, 366 images and poems, Introduction by prof. Paul de Blot, Business University Nyenrode, 786 pages. Published by Madama Art, 2013. ISBN 978 90 821341 00
De TAO van het IK BEN, Splendor Solis, de kracht van de Zon in jezelf, uitg. Chicorei, 26 images and lyrical texts, hardcover, 2016 ISBN 9789491 748486
Aurora/ Crystal Cathedral, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 198 x 179 cm, 2008
Crystal Cathedral/Aurora, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 198 x 179cm, 2008
Spherae Mundi, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 180 x 270 cm, 2008
Pi serie, Sounding Colours, acrylic on canvas ,50 x 40 cm, 2008
The Perfect Pi Pair, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 275 x 207 cm, 2012, verso
Cosmic Radiance, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 275 x 207 cm, 2012 recto
Transition, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 143 x 295 cm, 2012
Structures of Purity, Fres Air, mixed media on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, 2014
Structures of Light, Great Central Sun, mixed media on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, 2014
Structures of Transformation, Rubedo, mixed media on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, 2014
My latest work, Temple hangings, acrylic on canvas, 220 x 150 cm
IA Illumination, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2017
IB Continuum, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2017
IIA Emerald Stone/El Remedio, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2017
IIB La Belleza de la Prosperidad, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2017
IIIA Temple of Trust, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2017
IIIB Heart of Truth, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2017
IVA Purpura, Flor del Amor, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2018
IVB Matrix of Origin, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2018
VIA Rejuvenation, blazing yellow dragon, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2018
VIB Bird of Paradise, acrylic on 2 sides painted unframed canvas, 220 x 150 cm, 2018