“The World in Our Hands” – Cornelages, A Paper-Cut Collage Exhibition by Cornelis Hoek

Between the 1^st and 29^th of June 2009, Neilson Hays Library in Bangkok holds a very unique exhibition that bears the title “The World in Our Hands” by Dutch visual artist Cornelis Hoek. Under the terms “cornelages,” obviously a blending of the artist’s first name and the word “collage,” the Rotunda and the Garden Café Galleries present to the Bangkok art aficionados an exhibition of paper-cut collages.

The 73 year old Cornelis Hoek is a talented artist, who has been involved in the arts industry for all his life. No matter if he is known as a concert singer, a weaver, a theatre maker, an impresario, or an art collector, he definitely stands out in the crowd of expatriates who have chosen to live in Chinag Rai, a major city in northern Thailand. Cornelis arrived in the Land of Smiles in 1999 and has been here ever since. His house accommodates one of the greatest private libraries on art in the Kingdom, alongside an exquisite European and Asian art collection.

The Cornelages exhibition, that I had the chance to visit while book shopping at Neilson Hay Library’s recent used book sales, made me understand that contemporary art doesn’t have to be for the connoisseurs only. It can also be admired and understood by anyone who takes the time to visit the venues where it’s exhibited.

To be more exact, Cornelis’s cornelages are collages that center round an urban theme. Among the seventy-nine exhibits, you can admire the artist’s intricacy in putting together collages using magazine cut-outs of houses, people, buildings, eyes, cars, etc. Although abstract in nature, the repetitive patterns of his cornelages create a strong visual urban identity.

Cornelis Hoek has started working on this particular exhibition in 2009 when, in order to collect the materials for his future work, he went on a glossy magazine shopping spree. Hundreds of magazines had been bought for this purpose, which by no means must have made the publishers happy. However, little did they know that their publications were bought not for a weekend’s read, but to create art that will eventually last forever.

After a painstaking process of choosing and cutting out the needed pictures, Cornelis separated everything according to themes and started the real artistic act of putting the cut-outs together. Using only scissors, glue, white paper and an artist’s eye, Cornelis’s created a world of urban utopia displayed for our pleasure in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Nan, and lately, Bangkok.

Surrounded by Cornelis’s work, on a round table in the middle of the Rotonda Gallery, there are also exhibited handmade books by Thai children who received the impact of AIDS/HIV. The content of the books belongs to no other than Cornelis himself and consist of mini collages. Fifteen percent of the proceeds from the sales of these books will go straight to Aids Access Foundation.

Depending on their size and complexity, the price of the white-framed cornelages is between 500 and 10,000 baht, which make the exhibits a good investment for the future. Also, for those wishing to decorate the walls of their houses or offices, I recommend any of Cornelis’s carefully put together collages.

Thailand is a place favoured by many foreign artists who have either decided to settle down here or are just passing through. But, no matter their reason, we, the residents (Thai and foreign alike), are privileged for the opportunities offered to us to experience their work. So, I urge of all you Bangkokians out there, make time and visit one of the many art venues that littler the capital.