Michael Tedja - The Color Guide Series

The stunning work of Michael Tedja (b. 1971, Rotterdam) encompasses drawing, painting, literature and installations. His images, reminiscent of the work of the CoBrA artists, are expressive and linguistic, full of symbols and autobiographical elements. Tedja criticises from an apparently subjective point of view. The folkloristic and anti-intellectual element of CoBrA does not therefore feature in his work. Museum de Fundatie is showing The Color Guide Series (2019/2020). 

_{Michael Tedja, The Color Guide Series 7-148, oil and acrylic on paper, 65 x 45 cm, collection Museum de Fundatie Zwolle and Heino / Wijhe}

The Color Guide Series emerged from The Holarium / Negeren Series, which consists of 818 works on paper. On each piece of paper there is a colour guide, which Tedja has painted over in some cases, though in others he has left it visible, thus turning mass-produced paper into something unique. For The Color Guide Series he repainted 279 works from The Holarium / Negeren Series. By recycling both the paper and his own work, in both series he explores the mutability of meaning. All 279 pieces in the series will be on show on the first floor of Museum de Fundatie Zwolle.

A 544-page book, The Color Guide Series and more, will be published by Hatje Cantz Verlag in conjunction with the exhibition. 

_{Michael Tedja, The Color Guide Series 2-32, oil and acrylic on paper, 65 x 45 cm, collection Museum de Fundatie Zwolle and Heino / Wijhe}

Michael Tedja is a leading contemporary Dutch artist. He studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, where he now lives and works. He has had solo shows at Museum Jan Cunen in Oss, the Cobra Museum for Modern Art, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Locust Projects in Miami and the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam and has appeared in numerous international group exhibitions. Museum de Fundatie is showing The Color Guide Series in combination with the work Out One Big King, which the museum acquired in 2021 for its collection.

_{Michael Tedja, Out One Big King, 2002-2012, mixed media on canvas, 300 x 600 cm, collection Museum de Fundatie Zwolle and Heino/Wijhe, acquired with support from the VriendenLoterij. Photo: Peter Tijhuis.}

_{Image header: Michael Tedja, The Color Guide Series 2-32, oil and acrylic on paper, 65 x 45 cm, collection Museum de Fundatie Zwolle and Heino / Wijhe}

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