THE HAGUE.- The story of US-based Dutch collector and entrepreneur Bert Kreuk (b. Capelle a/d IJssel, 1964) is one of a true American dream. Over the last fifteen years, Kreuk’s passion for collecting has taken him on an endless voyage of discovery and the resulting collection is at once daring, spectacular and highly personal. This is a collection of global ambition, created in order to be shared. It tells the story of the development of art over the last 20 years. In the summer of 2013, the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is exhibiting a selection of works from the Bert Kreuk Collection that express the personal and social engagement of contemporary artists in a wide range of materials and media. While Bert Kreuk lends art works to museums worldwide, this is the first time that a substantial part of his collection is on public display in a single institution. The collection is having its first showing here in The Hague and welcomed Bert Kreuk as a guest curator.

Bert Kreuk about the exhibition: ‘It is a liberating feeling once you discover that art is more than a mere reflection of reality. Collecting art for me is an educational journey of exploring, observing and understanding, without learned assumptions. The artists in my collection have the ability to give a personal, intentional and authentic expression to their concept. They should have the wish to communicate an idea beyond the illustration of a scene or an instant identifiable mood. As a result they are ‘transforming the known’.

Contemporary art opens new worlds, in which ideas, concepts and intentions are as important as form, execution and technique. The meaning of simple objects do not represent a less profound or less inferior conceptual background than complex works. Nothing really worth knowing can be taught. Experience and susceptibility is what counts.

Inspired by traditional painting the exhibition shows the development into conceptual painting and sculpture of an emerging generation. A conceptual approach that in the exhibition slowly morphs into a performative narrative. Many of the emerging artists have never been shown in the Netherlands before. I am glad this exhibition gives that possibility of a first introduction. I warmly thank the Gemeentemuseum for the opportunity and their vision that made this exhibition possible.’

The following artists are participating in the exhibition: Allora & Calzadilla, Walead Beshty, Mark Bradford, Sarah Braman, Valentin Carron, Peter Doig, Latifa Echakhch, Matias Faldbakken, Brendan Fowler, Theaster Gates, Damien Hirst, Alex Hubbard, Elliott Hundley, Nathan Hylden, Alex Israel, Matthew Day Jackson, Willem de Kooning, Friedrich Kunath, Oliver Laric, Sherrie Levine, Klara Lidén, Adam McEwen, Oscar Murillo, Angelo Otero, Virginia Overton, Sterling Ruby, Analia Saban, Rudolf Stingel, Valerie Snobeck, Oscar Tuazon, Luc Tuymans, Kaari Upson, Danh Vo, Michael Wilkinson and Christopher Wool.