Herman de vries
Encyclopedia
herman de vries is a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
artist. He writes his name in lower-case "to avoid hierarchy". de vries works and lives with his wife Susanne in Eschenau near Knetzgau
Knetzgau
Knetzgau is a municipality in the district of Haßberge in Bavaria in Germany. It consists of eight villages: Oberschwappach, Unterschwappach, Westheim, Hainert, Eschenau, Neuhaus, Zell am Ebersberg and Wohnau....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
de vries started painting in the late 1950s. He categorises these paintings as 'informal'. Using no figuration or color, the paintings are his first steps towards randomness as a principle of order. This principle aims to achieve absolute objectivity, and has had a central role throughout his artistic career. Later, his concern for the (disrupted) relation between humanity and nature takes a leading role in his work.