Ground & Figure, Figure & Ground

An extensive and richly illustrated monograph covering Marien Schouten’s artistic production from 1983 to the present

Ground & Figure, Figure & Ground features 300 illustrations and seven essays by Hans Janssen, Ulrich Loock and Ernst van Alphen, tracing Schouten’s evolution. Designed by the artist, the book includes a voice under, a continuous text running at the bottom of each page, offering personal reflections that complement the analytical distance of the essays.

Jap Sam Books and the artist have partnered to bring this vision to print, marking a significant new addition to his ongoing published oeuvre.

‘Increasingly I accepted the impulses of intuition to direct my choices. I see it as the artist’s role to make the subconscious less opaque, to slightly alter its borders and make them porous. One way of familiarizing yourself with a motif  which meaning you don’t fully understand, is repetition. A motif, when repeated in different contexts and combined with other motifs or performed in various media, accumulates its own history.'

Buy now

This website offers a rare opportunity to order a signed copy from the artist himself, possibly combined with a unique ceramic sculpture. It is also possible to purchase copies of older publications such as the catalogues for exhibitions in Institut Neerlandais in Paris, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Kunsthalle Bern, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam en Museum de Pont in Tilburg.

Discover more

During the festive Book presentation at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, a group conversation was organized between the artist and two of the authors. The conversation was introduced by director Rein Wolfs with short statements by Ulrich Loock and Ernst van Alphen, and moderated by Ruth Hodgins, an artist and freelance curator.

Left to right: Ernst van Alphen, Marien Schouten, Ulrich Loock, Ruth Hodgins.

Sculptures

For the book launch, the artist created this series of ceramic sculptures titled 'Beads', borne of a painting of the same title.

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Books

A living chronicle of a lifelong practice, these volumes trace the artist's earliest inquiries to most contemporary explorations.

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