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拍品专文
In the Dutch Institute for Biological Field Research (ITBON, Arnhem), animal and biological experiments are done based on the statistic definition of chance. Herman de Vries, who worked at ITBON as a researcher until 1968, started to use these same principles in his artworks. Random sequences of numbers, which are actually borrowed from a book on statistical methods for biology, are used as a starting point to make random drawings and reliefs. De Vries called the works based on these methods Random Objectivations. This procedure is described in an article in the second issue of Revue nul =0 of April 1963: 'Objectivation is important as a part of my occupation with "visual information". (....) carrying out my compositions called "random objectivations", I started reading the numbers from a haphazardly chosen point of the table, and gave a "value" to each digit. Value here means: a colour, gluing on a square or leaving it out, etc. In this way I obtained results which were acceptable for the spectator and gave the impression that they were intended as art.'
De Vries spoke of Visual information, a term which at the time was much in vogue and which was meant to replace the term "art". For him this emphasized the objective nature of the works. Although he made white collages and paintings based on objectivity from 1958, his first real Random Objectivations are from 1962 and produced them until 1975.
'The tables used by De Vries are statistical guarantees for making objective measurements, tests and calculations. De Vries, however, interprets the random sequence of numbers as spatial and temporal coordinates: he reads the build up and the dimensions of a work in these deadly dull numbers. The impersonal remarks of De Vries that their respective qualities turn out to be equal, do not detract from the fascination which the visual complexities of these works still hold for us. For example, in comparison with Schoonhoven's reliefs, we see that we are dealing with two entirely different notions of complexity. Schoonhoven's work deals with the tension between the grid and the make. In De Vries' work, the grid becomes less and less important and one is finally left with the presence of image-elements in empty space.' (Cees de Boer in exh. cat. The words is my poetry - Works of Herman de Vries, Oeuvreprijs Beeldende Kunst, Amsterdam 1998, p. 23)
The goal was to eliminate the personal - not the human - element in his composition. For De Vries demonstrates that he is not merely showing chance at play, but also a personal, decisive moment, which is bounded on his ascribing values, his coding of the numbers from the random tables. As he stated: 'The choice of the depersonalized act is as important as the creative act itself.' (Herman de Vries, Werken 1954-1980, Groningen 1980, p. 24.).
De Vries spoke of Visual information, a term which at the time was much in vogue and which was meant to replace the term "art". For him this emphasized the objective nature of the works. Although he made white collages and paintings based on objectivity from 1958, his first real Random Objectivations are from 1962 and produced them until 1975.
'The tables used by De Vries are statistical guarantees for making objective measurements, tests and calculations. De Vries, however, interprets the random sequence of numbers as spatial and temporal coordinates: he reads the build up and the dimensions of a work in these deadly dull numbers. The impersonal remarks of De Vries that their respective qualities turn out to be equal, do not detract from the fascination which the visual complexities of these works still hold for us. For example, in comparison with Schoonhoven's reliefs, we see that we are dealing with two entirely different notions of complexity. Schoonhoven's work deals with the tension between the grid and the make. In De Vries' work, the grid becomes less and less important and one is finally left with the presence of image-elements in empty space.' (Cees de Boer in exh. cat. The words is my poetry - Works of Herman de Vries, Oeuvreprijs Beeldende Kunst, Amsterdam 1998, p. 23)
The goal was to eliminate the personal - not the human - element in his composition. For De Vries demonstrates that he is not merely showing chance at play, but also a personal, decisive moment, which is bounded on his ascribing values, his coding of the numbers from the random tables. As he stated: 'The choice of the depersonalized act is as important as the creative act itself.' (Herman de Vries, Werken 1954-1980, Groningen 1980, p. 24.).