Cor Kraat

In Dutch cities like Rotterdam there is a lot of art in the public domain. In fact, it's so common you might hardly notice it anymore. It's part of the city furniture, just like speed-walking addicts, run down buildings and bankrupt shops. Of course the art is much more fun to look at. One man started to paint the town red (and pink, yellow, green, baby-blue and bright orange) a long, long time ago. His name is Cor Kraat. It's likely that this name does not ring any bells, apart from maybe the posters you can now see throughout the city advertising his exhibition. But his work is actually pretty famous: he made the Nieuwe Delftse Poort, the Polaroid and the BMW car that accidentally hangs out of a parking garage.

When I showed my Belarussian friend around town two years ago, she wondered about all the public pieces of art: "why is this statue here? What does that mural mean?" Funny, she pointed out some objects that I had missed for years and was now forced to take an extra look at, and I enjoyed it. "There is no meaning to it. It is just... art for the sake of art." "Soooo it's not for honouring your president, I mean queen. Or to remember the war? Interesting..." The idea of art in public spaces to cheer up the city was an unknown concept for her. But it exists since the seventies when the beforementioned Cor Kraat decided to add more colour to Rotterdam in a project called 'Townpainting'. I also had never heard of the man, but have fond memories of one of his works. 'The Polaroid' was a sign that we were almost home, if we drove by it in our old Peugeot. We actually called it 'The Punaise' (the thumbnail), because that impressed us more that the pictured image of the harbour.
Now why am I dedicating precious blog-space to an artist? Well, for two reasons: why is it, that in a foreign city, whether on holiday or business trip you will pay more attention to your surroundings, when there is a lot of cool art in your own street, block, city? Look around more, it's free! Also, now is your chance to see what Cor Kraat has done for the city in his exhibition in LP2 (Las Palmas). And that brings me to the second reason: I sell tickets there, so it is in my own personal interest that you drop by and buy a ticket for this awesome overview of Kraat's work, documentaries and a virtual reality experience on a bike. So, bring your parents and foreign friends (English translation of the catalogue will soon be available, so the subtitle 'Made in Rotterdam' will make sense). Before I forget, there's actually a third reason: the brilliant entrance: the tram kindly sponsored by the RET. The exhibition will be at LP2 in the south of Rotterdam till early december and tickets are 6 euros max with lots of discount options.