Occasions Dongen
Ron van Dongen |
On at least one occasion, she poured boiling water on him. Following their separation she made 14 silent phone calls to his new girlfriend, Violet Farquharson. Cornelius Van Dongen (right). Een ruim aanbod BOVAG merken occasions. Ook voor onderhoud, auto financeiring & verzekering, schadeherstel en APK. Autobedrijf Coen Droomers Auto's uit Oss! Berlinah Wallace, 48, is charged with murdering Mark Van Dongen, 29, by leaving him with such catastrophic injuries that he asked for assistance in ending his life. The fashion student allegedly hurled acid over Mr Van Dongen's face and body at her flat in Bristol in September 2015, and he died at a clinic in Belgium in January 2017. Van Dongen was the most sought-after portrait painter of his day. Depictions of young women were his specialty. The more provocative display in clothing styles and the emphasis on heavy make-up that he had described in his garish paintings of demi-mondaines -dancers, artist's models and prostitutes-during the previous decade were now nearly universally chic and indeed de rigueur among the fashionable upper classes. Occasion for Disaster (Part 4 of 4) 5 (1961) only as by Van Dongen The Outbreak of Peace ( 1961 ) only as by Van Dongen The Weakling ( 1961 ) only as by Van Dongen.
It was the beautiful red book titled Effusus sitting on a coffee table that first captured my attention and then my heart. For most of the rest of the evening, Ron van Dongen's photographs of flowers had me spellbound. Each image was striking with detail and seductive, sensual colour.
Since that evening, I've been lucky to have met Ron on several occasions and he graciously took time to share his approach and photographs with us.
CL: What is your background?
van Dongen: I grew up in the heartland of floral agriculture in the Netherlands, and later studied Biology and Health Scinece at the University of Delft. Despite my involvement with plants, I’d never thought they would become a subject matter for photography. Digging in the dirt and watching a plant’s life cycle in its own environment was, and still is, more rewarding than isolating it and documenting it on film.
CL: How did you get started making photographs of plants and flowers?
van Dongen: About fifteen years ago, while I was working as a floral designer and going to college, a friend predicted I would one day photograph flowers as a primary occupation. I thought the idea was ridiculous.
As a photography student, I was obsessed with the human form, and in my youthful ambition to be taken seriously, found flowers too frivolous a subject matter. I was determined to become a portrait photographer.
While I did photograph plants occasionally, it was only done to practice my 4x5 camera skills without burdening live models with my limited technical ability. When the flower pictures drew attention, I would respond by saying they were only meant as an exercise.
During the following few years, I built a portfolio of body and face photographs. These images were all taken in the studio with simple strobe lighting. I worked exclusively with Polaroid 55P/N for its instant results. Mostly high in contrast, with the light skin tones against black back drops, the pictures had a dramatic, but often static effect.
In a subsequent project, I photographed white bodies on white backdrops. In this series the light tones were meant to symbolize death and mourning. The white-on-white imagery created a feeling of eerie serenity but also of distance. As the project progressed, this concept changed to a more visual observation; it takes effort to see where a white-on-white image begins or ends. This ambiguous pictorial quality literally forces the viewer to draw in closer and examine the whole image area. It makes the imagery more challenging and dynamic.
Simultaneously, I applied this idea to floral still lifes, using a 4 x 5 Sinar F1 camera. Although visually similar, the botanicals lacked the emotional tension and heaviness of the figure studies. Another difference was the circumstance in with I photographed them; at home using only natural light.
In the attempt to market my work to galleries and magazines, it was the flower portfolio that was consistently singled out. I chose--albeit reluctantly--to devote my time exclusively to photographing the botanical form.
CL: Would you tell us about your transition from black and white photography to color?
van Dongen: The transition to color photography coincided with the move to a new house (in May 2004). I felt very motivated to create a new garden, but started to feel a resistance to photographing plants from it.
Incidentally, a friend commented on a color picture I had taken for an editorial assignment and suggested I'd continue my flower portfolio in color. I reluctantly took his challenge.
Initially I experimented with a 4x5 pinhole camera and went 'on location' (rather than using my regular 4x5 in my home studio). At first I was excited about the change, but being 'on location' (nurseries, gardens) felt awkward. The pinhole camera gave interesting and ‘hip’ results, but I missed the control I had in the studio.
After a few weeks I was back in the studio, doing exactly what I had been doing for ten years, but this time using color film.
CL: How do you choose your colors?
van Dongen: It may sound peculiar, but I photograph color in much the same way I photograph B&W work: It is a continual search for imagery with compositional simplicity, which translates in making pictures with limited visual information, but without going completely abstract. I tend to use complimentary (similar) colors (tonal values) for background and object (rather than contrasting colors).
With B/W photography this resulted in many white-on-white, grey-on-grey or black-on-black pictures. With color photography the possibilities turned out to be endless; red on reds, brown on browns, blue on blues, green on greens, etc.
Sometimes I do resort to using contrasting colors. It just isn’t my main focus.
CL: Do you have any colour preferences? How do you keep your color ideas/choices fresh?
van Dongen: In the end it really comes down to what I find in the garden. Sometimes the emphasis is on the form of the plant, sometimes it is the uniqueness of the species. Color is never the dominant driving force.
CL: Have you ever experienced a creative block? If so, how do you resolve it?
van Dongen: I consider my type of work more a craft than an art form. So I'm more of an artisan/craftsman than an artist. Just like a great baker, boat builder or a violin maker, I work on improving and refining my skills, rather than creating and inventing new work. Therefore I don't really have creative blocks, but rather different levels of motivation:
-- Spring, early summer and mid fall are periods when I'm highly motivated and prolific in producing work.
-- Midsummer can be overwhelming; there is too much subject matter to photograph and garden care eats up most of my time.
-- Late fall and winter are challenging to be an active photographer (late fall can be a time of over- saturation, in winter, the pickings are slim).
CL: Has digital photography or process affected your work? If yes, in what way?
van Dongen: All work is still photographed using 4”x 5” film (transparencies), but the color work is now printed digitally. The results are superior to conventional r- and c-prints. It also has allowed me to spend less time in the darkroom.
CL: How is the color of Portland different from the color of Amsterdam?
Voogd Occasions Dongen
van Dongen: I have lived here for so long I actually can’t remember. Since both are “Northwest” cities and the climates are similar, the colors must be too.
CL: What's next for you? How do you see your work evolving?
van Dongen: It is hard to predict what will be next. As long as I enjoy the gardening, I am sure I'll keep adding to the collection of plant pictures. When I feel I can't improve on my skills or I can't find interesting plants anymore, I will start something else. Something tells me that is unlikely to happen in the near future.
If you'd like to purchase one of Ron's books, visit Nazraeli Press.
When in Portland, Oregon, see his images at the Froelick Gallery.
All images courtesy of Ron van Dongen. Copyright: Ron van Dongen. All Rights Reserved.
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Woman spends $86m to avoid jail over husband's murder
Mark Van Dongen has since passed away after requesting to be euthanised in Belgium. Picture: FacebookSource:Facebook
MARK Van Dongen, 29, was left paralysed from the neck down, unrecognisable and all but blinded following an alleged acid attack.
In hospital, Mark was interviewed by police and said he believed he had been attacked by girlfriend Berlinah Wallace, 48, because she was “jealous”.
More than a year after the attack the engineer ended his life at a euthanasia clinic after being left in “unbearable” agony. His girlfriend is facing murder charges in Bristol Crown Court.
In a video burns could be seen on his chest and his voice was barely audible as he confirmed he was a Dutch national.
Mark confirmed he shared a rented flat with Wallace where they had lived for five years, and that he arrived at about 6pm when she was there.
He then told officers he had been asleep in bed when Wallace woke him up and said: “If I can’t have you, no-one can.”
Berlinah Wallace has been accused of murdering partner Mark Von Dongen. Picture: SWNS/SWACID.Source:Mega
He recalled there being a square plastic box with an inch of acid in it.
“I was wearing just boxer shorts,” Mark said. “She threw acid. I was crying ‘Help!’
“I was running in the street. Neighbours took me into a house and called police.”
Mark said Wallace bought the acid online and was insistent that it was in a 20cm by 20cm plastic box, about 10cm to 15cm deep.
When asked why Wallace threw the acid over him, he said: “It was because she was jealous.”
Mark said he and Wallace had exchanged text messages before she returned to the flat around midnight, and said when she threw the liquid it hit his arm, face and chest, and that he did not know there was sulfuric acid at the flat.
Mark said: “She would have bought it. She always used my Lloyds banking account.”
Two videos were shown from July 6 and July 28, 2016.
The second video was recorded after Mark had requested to speak to police again.
Mark Van Dongen. Picture: SWNS/SWACID.Source:Mega
He said about a year before the alleged acid attack, Wallace had thrown boiling water over his right arm and he could prove this from medical evidence.
Mark could not recall what had upset his girlfriend, and said: “She came behind me when I was sitting on the couch, watching TV.”
He told police they used to argue about the smallest things, including on one occasion when he bought coffee from Costa for his colleagues.
He said that when his bank statement showed he had paid to use a gym, Wallace accused him of cheating and they had a two-week row.
Mark said Wallace would hit herself in the face, and told him that if he left her she would call the police and say he had injured her.
He also accused her of hiding his passport so he could not go to a hotel or an airport, and that he went back to her after feeling sorry for her.
A neighbour who heard his cries for help on September 23, 2015 recalled how he initially thought Mark was having a bad trip on LSD when he heard his cries.
Thomas Sweet had initially believed the sounds were foxes fighting, but then realised it was someone shouting “Help me.”
He followed the noises and saw a man dressed only in his underwear who appeared to be in agony.
Mark van Dongen as a teenager with his father Cornelius in Belgium. Picture: Enterprise NewsSource:Supplied
Mr Sweet said: “It seemed like he had paint chucked on him.
“He was talking about acid. I thought he had taken acid and was having a bad time.
“He was requesting a shower.”
He dialled 999 and was told to put Mark in the shower, and Mr Sweet reassured him they would not be going to the flat shared with Wallace.
Mark’s eyes were very bloodshot and it looked like his skin had been bleached, the court heard.
Mr Sweet told the jury that Mark said: “That b***h did it to me. The police need to be there, she needs to pay.”
Another neighbour, Dominic Wooding, lived upstairs from the shared flat and told the court that on September 23, 2015, he heard a man saying “Help me!”
Fens Occasions Dongen
He described Mark as looking as though he was covered in black paint, and “babbling and moaning” as he was put in the shower.
Mark told him: “My ex did this.”
Occasions Dongen Lion Van Loon
The trial continues.