Jan Henderikse (b. 1937)

This untitled assemblage by Jan Henderikse was conceived in Düsseldorf, in 1961. Two years previously, Henderikse moved to Düsseldorf, where he connected with the main protagonists of the international ZERO movement, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, who was to become a close friend. As a member of the Dutch Nul Group (1961-1965, with Armando, Henk Peeters and Jan Schoonhoven), Henderikse replaced conventional materials (oil paint, bronze) for un-academic means, searching for a new kind of expressiveness; a commitment shared with so many artists from the ZERO movement. Henderikse also felt a special kinship with Nouveau Réalistes Arman and Daniel Spoerri, whom he met though shared exhibitions during the early 1960s.

This is one of Henderikse’s earliest polychrome assemblages, consisting of washed up flotsam, found on the banks of the river Rhine, in Cologne and Düsseldorf. Jan Henderikse took part in many of the major ZERO exhibitions of the decade, including the exhibition Nul at the Stedelijk Museum (1962), and several (group)presentations at the Internationale Galerie Orez, during the 1960s renowned centre of ZERO related exhibitions and manifestations in the Netherlands. Similar assemblages from the early 1960s were exhibited at the exhibition Nieuw Realisten at the Gemeentemuseum The Hague (1964), traveling on to Brussels, Vienna and Berlin (1965).