Designboom writes: “Dutch artist Herman de Vries represents the Netherlands at the Dutch pavilion for the 2015 Venice Art Biennale. De Vries’ background as a horticulturist and natural scientist offers visitors to the exhibition ‘to be all ways to be’ a look at both the unity and diversity of the world around us, presented through sculptures, works on paper, photography and an expansive range of objects.”
“From Earth: Everywhere” is a wall sized tableau comprising 84 earth rubbings on paper. Designboom says that De Vries collected soil samples from different locations all over the world on his many travels, forming a sort of personal earth museum. The colors he got from this are magnificent and lends even more question to color and the significance of memory, place and art.
The exhibit, which questions “the relationships that exist between nature and culture, and the ways in which they affect and influence one another,” is so intimate and wonderful and after watching the video below, makes one perceive “art” as something so tangible through the lens of Herman de Vries. That we all create art in some way or another daily, it’s just all in the perception of what constitutes art or simply, our everydayness.