Starting October 27, Galerie Wilms will present THE GREAT TONNIE AND GRADJE AI exhibition, a unique exhibition focusing on the creative collaboration between painters Aaron van Erp and Rob Looman. In addition to their own painting careers, van Erp and Looman regularly paint together under the pseudonym Tonnie and Gradje. A painting process in which they constantly inspire and challenge each other. The exhibition focuses on the essence of human creativity at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be gaining the upper hand. This exhibition sheds light on their extraordinary working methods and challenges visitors to participate in their creative process.
The Great Tonnie and Gradje AI exhibition asks questions about the role of AI in art in humorous way. Van Erp and Looman turn their project into true “Craft Interpretation,” offering a human counterpoint to the emerging artificial intelligence. Everyone is invited to submit ideas, prompts, which are used by the artists as inspiration for new paintings.
This interactive approach emphasizes the value of human interaction and creativity, something Van Erp says is fundamentally different from what AI can offer: “When people look at a painting, listen to music or read a book, they are seeking an encounter with the human behind the work. It is that connection that is the attraction of art. Human creativity is animated, is about the process and is therefore of a very different order than AI.”
The collaboration between Van Erp and Looman, which Looman himself describes as a “visual representation of friendship,” emerges through a process of constant exchange and complementing each other’s work. The artists often start without a preconceived plan, after which they enrich each other’s paintings in unpredictable ways. Each time it leads to a unique symbiosis of styles and ideas. The paintings are often alienating and absurdist in which humor is not shunned.
The Great Tonnie and Gradje AI exhibition is a celebration of a unique artistic collaboration, Starting Oct. 27, Galerie Wilms invites you to come discover this intriguing dialogue between the two painters.
Aaron van Erp
‘You can often laugh at gruesome things too’ With this remark, Aaron van Erp (1978) characterises his paintings and drawings which, with their often brutal subjects, nevertheless evoke laughter thanks to their bizarre titles. His depictions sometimes refer to well-known paintings from the past (The Meatball Eaters, 2000) or evoke associations with social themes such as terrorism, health care problems or child abuse.
The theme of victim versus perpetrator also plays an important role in Van Erp’s work. at first, the viewer sees two figures preoccupied with a victim. On closer inspection, they turn out to be tearing the victim apart and making meatballs of the flesh, which they skewer into bare trees. Boundaries between good and evil blur, allowing saviours to be perpetrators at the same time and vice versa.
Besides inspiration from everyday life, influences from the work of artists such as James Ensor and Francis Bacon can also be recognised. This can be seen in amorphous figures, the colour scheme, a surreal atmosphere and the fragmentary way Van Erp paints his figures. His social and political commitment shows kinship with the work of Francisco Goya in which he too stands up against violence, unfreedom of thought and human suffering.
In 2007, the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag presented the first major retrospective of the then only 29-year-old artist. The director, Wim van Krimpen, put it this way in the nearly 200-page monograph: ‘…other-worldly (…) about a strange world. Fragments of memory of impossible situations. Hard painting but ephemerally applied.’
CV Aaron van Erp
1978, Veghel, The Netherlands
1996-2001 St Joost School of Art and Design, ’s-Hertogenbosch, NL
2018 Artist-in-residence Livingstone Projects, Berlin
AWARDS- NOMINATIONS – GRANTS
2017
Berlin Prize, Livingstone Projects Berlin, nomination
2004
Wim Izak Prize, nomination
Royal Award for Modern Painting, nomination
Netherlands Foundation for Visual Art (Fonds BKVB), grant
2002
Buning Brongers Prize, award
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2019
Aaron Van Erp, Drawing from the Hip, Livingstone gallery, The Hague, NL
2015
Aaron Van Erp: Azuurblauwe zeeën, hondsdolle chimpansees en tomatensoep, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2012
Aaron Van Erp, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
Aaron van Erp, Gasunie Groningen, Groningen, NL
2010
Armando in confrontatie met Aaron van Erp, Armando Museum, Amersfoort, NL
Kunstagenten Gallery, Berlin, DE
Aaron van Erp, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, SA
Aaron van Erp, Hoet Bekeart Gallery, Ghent, BE
2009
Aaron van Erp, C-Space, Beijing, CH
2008
Aaron van Erp, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, USA
Aaron van Erp – Malerei, Stadtmuseum Gütersloh, Gütersloh, DE
Aaron van Erp, IBID Projects, London, UK
Aaron van Erp, Museum Der Stadt Ratingen, Ratingen, DE
2007
Aaron van Erp, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, NL
Aaron van Erp – tekeningen, Museum ‘t Kruithuis, ’s-Hertogenbosch, NL
2005
Nederlandse Cacaofabriek, Helmond, NL
2004
Galerie de Praktijk, Amsterdam, NL
Noordbrabants Museum, ’s-Hertogenbosch, NL
2003
Witgoed, sanitair en opgeknoopte paarden, Kasteel Geldrop, Geldrop, NL
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2018 Always Trust The Artist, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
Art Rotterdam, Livingstone gallery, The Hague, NL
2017 Painting Now, six international painters, Livingstone gallery, The Hague, NL
2016 Tomorrow is a long time, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2015 Johan Buning, zijn tijdgenoten en een selectie uit de prijswinnaars 1966-2014, Museum Henriette Polak, Zutphen, NL
2014 Beauty of Violence, Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam
Aaron Van Erp, Stefan à Wengen, Matijs van de Kerkhof, Maria Smits, Galerie Wilms, Venlo, NL
2013 GROTE-klein Grafiek Expo De maand van de grafiek, Grafisch atelier Daglicht, Eindhoven, NL
Middle Gate Geel ’13, Cultuurcentrum de Werft, Geel, BE
2012 Being Here, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, BE
Point de Vue, Aaron van Erp, Gasunie Groningen, Groningen, NL
Resy Muijsers Contemporary Art Tilburg, Tilburg, NL
Podium DAK, Geldrop, Galerie Wilms, Venlo, NL
Het Gebouw, MOA/ Museum Oud Amelisweerd, Bunnik, NL
2011 Kraftwerk Depot, Marta Herford, Herford, DE
Brabant nu, Het Wild Gillende Schildersgilde and Friends, De Pont, Tilburg, Nl
I miss You, De Krabbedans, Eindhoven, NL
E´ven Schilderijen, De fabriek, Eindhoven, NL
ACB Gallery, Budapest, HU
Ars Apocalipsis, Kunstverein Kreis Gütersloh, Gütersloh, DE
What’s up, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, NL
2009 Aaron van Erp, Wycher Noord en Frank Peeters, De Nederlandsche Cacaofabriek, Helmond
StressedSpaces, KW14, ’s-Hertogenbosch
Hellwach Gegenwartig, Museum Marta Herford, Herford, NL
Quantumvis, De Servicegarage/RC Ruimte, Amsterdam, Nl
The Knokke Biennale, Knokke het Zoute, BE
2007 Strange Brew, Max Lang Gallery, New York, US
Hoet Bekaert gallery, Open/Aperto, Ghent/Turin, BE/ IT
2006 Sieben auf einen Streich, Marta Herford, Herford, DE
2005 Gallery Horst Dietrich, Berlin, DE
Gallery Willy Schoots, Eindhoven, NL
Livingstone gallery, The Hague, NL
Frozen Fire, Roosendaal, Netherlands, NL
2004 Start a New Art World, Artis, ’s-Hertogenbosch, NL
Uitgelicht, Kunstvlaai, Amsterdam, NL
Royal Palace, Amsterdam, NL
Something Rotten, Loerakker Galerie, Amsterdam, NL
2003 Buning Bronger Prize, Arti et Amicitae, Amsterdam, NL
Wim Izaks Prize, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, DE
2002 Hier, De Krabbedans arts centre, Eindhoven, NL
2001 Degree show, St Joost school of art and design, ’s-Hertogenbosch, NL
De Nederlandse Cacaofabriek, Helmond, NL
Rob Looman, 1974 – Eindhoven
Using mainly oil paint, Rob Looman expresses social themes, social interaction and his fascination with life all around. By creating spatiality without example, yet striving for a form of realism, the viewer is taken to a slightly comic, absurdist variation on reality. From landscapes with an invisible tension or poignancy, to human discourses sometimes agitating, sometimes autobiographical.
There is always some kind of disturbance, alienation and humour in his work. The plausibility in harmonious colours and apparent reality may lead you into the painting, but there is always something that just takes you somewhere else. It is up to the viewer to decide for themselves what and or where that is.