NEW MASTERS

Taxidermists Extraordinaire Jaap Sinke & Ferry van Tongeren return to Jamb

Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren (Charles Darwin is their ‘sleeping’ partner) are returning to London for their second spectacular show, the guests once more of Charlotte and Will Fisher at Jamb.

Two years ago, DS&vT held their first ever exhibition here, amazing visitors with beautifully crafted, taxidermic compositions that paid homage to the great Dutch masters of the 16th and 17th centuries. This June, ‘New Masters’ takes further inspiration from early natural history artists, such as the American John James Audubon and his German counterpart, Ernst Haeckel. The latter they particularly admire for the way in which he approached scientific studies with a creative eye, combining colour and pattern to make elaborate patterns with flowers, shells and animals.

In all, Sinke and van Tongeren plan to bring about 30 new works to the ‘New Masters’ show, including a female mandrill, some rare hornbills, monkeys, reptiles, a zebra, two red ibises and an antique cabinet of rare, exotic birds, all dramatically resurrected to take centre stage amongst Jamb’s superbly curated stock of antiques and collectables.

In addition, they will be showing some of their ‘Unknown Poses’ taxidermic photography, which was recently shown at Photo London. This series is a continuation of work begun in 2014, when they realised how the ‘empty’ skins they were washing seemed to come alive when floating in water. 

Damien Hirst’s ‘Murderme’ collection bought nearly their entire output two years’ ago, so for anyone interested in owning a piece from the new masters themselves, the Jamb show is a second chance to procure a piece by DS&vT. Prices range from about £3000 to about £75,000, with the majority costing in the region of £10,000. So far as Sinke and van Tongeren are concerned, the two years they have spent putting this new show together is all about celebrating the beauty and wonder of the natural world. As Jaap Sinke explains, “We have managed to find some really rare and interesting species from zoos and breeders around the world – each animal is selected on colour and drama, a reflection on what we have learned so far”.

In order to show the specimens to maximum advantage, they have enlisted the help of TM Lighting, specialists in lighting artworks for museums, galleries and private collections.

For Charlotte Fisher, co-founder of Jamb, this is an exciting collaboration, “Our showroom proved to be the perfect theatrical backdrop to birds and animals of all descriptions and colours. I will always remember the over scale birdcage teeming with bright parrots placed on the outside, stopping people in their tracks as they passed by. Visitors to this show will find Jamb’s 18th-century console tables housing Jaap and Ferry’s beautiful compositions of creatures such as draped swans, macaws and ibises – animals caught in time to be enjoyed and marvelled at beyond their natural deaths”.

www.finetaxidermy.com

‘New Masters’ runs from Tues 28. June to Friday 8. July, 9am – 6pm weekdays and 11am – 4pm on Saturdays.
Jamb, 97 Pimlico Road. London SW1W 8PH
T +44 (0) 20 7730 2122
www.jamb.co.uk

For Jamb media information please contact info@elizabethmachinpr.com
+44 (0) 20 7503 3200 | 07508 051122
www.elizabethmachinpr.com

For TM Lighting please contact lyndsay@helenedwardspr.com
+ 44 (0) 20 7486 3696
tmlighting.com

Footnote

DARWIN, SINKE & VAN TONGEREN

Ferry van Tongeren and Jaap Sinke founded their atelier in 2013, launching their first collection ‘La Vie de L’Eden’ on 1stibs.com early in 2014. Placing the name of Charles Darwin before their own is a tribute to the great naturalist and geologist. Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren is dedicated to showing the beauty of nature through its flamboyant, taxidermic compositions.
Van Tongeren and Sinke met over 20 years’ ago while working as advertising creatives at Ogilvy & Mather in Amsterdam. Van Tongeren later founded his own agency, Doom & Dickson, where Sinke subsequently became a partner. The agency was sold in 2011 and van Tongeren decided on a new career in taxidermic art, a subject that had long fascinated him. He studied the techniques under the guidance of two notable Dutch taxidermists and this led to him working as a taxidermist at the highly respected, National Museum of Natural History, in Leiden, one of the oldest and largest taxidermy collections in the world, where he continues to extend his knowledge. So passionate was he about this extraordinary change of direction that he persuaded Sinke to also train in taxidermic techniques and join him in this new venture.

ABOUT JAMB:

Jamb has a worldwide reputation for the finest antique and reproduction chimneypieces, lighting and furniture.
Will Fisher, founder of Jamb, has been dealing in fine examples of 18th and 19th century English and Irish country house furniture, sculpture and curiosities for twenty years, and is one of this country's most highly regarded dealers. Jamb is now the destination for the world's leading architects and interior designers in pursuit of the classical English Country house aesthetic.
Jamb continues its exceptional collections with reproduction antique lighting and country house furniture, all made to the same exacting standard as its fireplaces and designed using historical references and made by highly skilled craftsmen at its workshops.
Will Fisher says: “Dealing in taxidermy and antique natural history is part of Jamb’s antiques arm known as ‘Hawker Antiques.' Anthropological curiosities work well with antiques, and the renewed interest in taxidermy is in part a reaction against minimalist interiors. Taxidermy is not only sought-after by established collectors, but increasingly by artists and a younger generation."

www.jamb.co.uk

ABOUT TM LIGHTING:

TM Lighting works closely with each client to provide a bespoke lighting solution that brings art to light. Founded in 2012 by Harry Triggs and Andrew Molyneux, who met while studying industrial design at Brunel University, they have a combined career of over 20 years in the industry. 
The London-based company designs and manufactures a new generation of full spectrum, high colour rendition, LED lighting which reinvents classic picture light design with the very latest lighting technology. Using the same technology, TM Lighting has added other art lighting products to its offering in order to meet the needs of galleries and museums. 
The range of products matches, and often surpasses, museum grade lighting in terms of light quality and light distribution. Being highly efficient it is a cost-effective lighting solution which can save thousands of pounds off energy bills for a stately home. 
In addition to lighting private collections, TM Lighting has been commissioned for a number of prestigious projects in national museums, galleries, National Trust homes and historic properties such as Burghley House, Waddesdon Manor and Apsley House. The company has also developed products for contemporary retail spaces such as Selfridges and Christian Louboutin. 
In their first year of business the duo’s debut product, the TM Picture Light, was highly commended in the Best Interior Luminaire category at the 2013 Lighting Design Awards. TM Picture Lights emit between 1-22W and has 50,000 hours of lamp light compared to a standard picture light emitting 30-150W and only 500 hours of lamp light. 
In 2015, TM Lighting products were shortlisted for three further awards: the FX International Interior Design Awards, SBID International Design Excellence Awards and World Interiors News (WIN) Awards. Most recently the newest product, the TM ArtPoint was recognised for its high level of design innovation when it was shortlisted in the highly coveted Interior Architectural Luminaire category at the Lighting Design Awards 2016.

tmlighting.com

January 3, 2015
Great piece by Jake Wallis Simons for CNN

October 20 , 2014
Grand Dame of Luxury Lucia van der Post in Financial Times 'How To Spend It' 

October 23, 2014
Wonderful review by Henrietta Thompson in 'The Telepraph LUXURY'

January 29 , 2015
Article by Rutger Pontzen about the sale to the Murderme Collection from Damien Hirst.

January 28 , 2014
Article titled 'Darwin is boss' by the famous Amsterdam newspaper.

November 26 , 2014
Report of the 'Natural Selection' exhibition at Shapero Modern.

May, 2015
Interview with Martino Bidotti in a series about Dutch Masters for PRESTAGE Magazine

December 16 , 2014
Report of the 'Natural Selection' exhibition at Shapero Modern. 

November 8, 2014
In-depth interview with Annemiek van Grondel and both Sinke & van Tongeren.

October 8, 2014
Interview with Dazzlyn Koh for Prestige Magazine Singapore

September 27, 2014
Nice article in the Design Special of 'De Volkskrant' 

March 8, 2014
First article in the biggest newspaper of The Netherlands 'De Telegraaf'

PRESS RELEASE NOVEMBER 2014

Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren is proud to announce a second London exhibition of photographs and taxidermic art, 'Natural Selection', to be hosted by Shapero Modern. A group show with artists working in a variety of media, including Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Marc Quinn, Pablo Picasso, Sinke & van Tongeren, Edvard Munch and many more.

PRESS RELEASE OCTOBER 2014

Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren is proud to announce its inaugural exhibition of taxidermic art, 'Darwin's Menagerie', to be hosted by leading antiques emporium, Jamb, during Frieze Art in London.

PRESS RELEASE MARCH 2014

17th CENTURY LUXURY

Dutch Artists reinvent taxidermy craftsmanship

'LA VIE DE L'EDEN' COLLECTION EXCLUSIVELY RELEASED ON 1STDIBS

‘We’re painters, sculptors, surgeons, art-directors, inventors and even hairdressers.
So we call it Fine Taxidermy Art.’ 

Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren is pleased to present the ‘La Vie de l’Eden’ collection exclusively released on 1stdibs.

Jaap Sinke & Ferry van Tongeren created a collection of beautifully designed taxidermy. Objects which show the splendour and natural beauty of exotic, rare animals. Combined with the finest European antiques they become  monumental and desirable objects of natural design.

Amsterdam based artists Sinke & van Tongeren introduced a new type of taxidermy art. Contemporary and traditional at the same time. Dutch 17th century painters and sculptors inspired them to shape their animals in an extravagant and flamboyant way. For these unusual and often impossible poses they use techniques from hundreds of years ago. Working at the Dutch Museum of Natural History (Naturalis) gives them the opportunity to learn and study many different skills and crafts that go back to The Golden Age. Compared to contemporary techniques the possibilities are plentiful.

Indeed, Sinke & van Tongeren do things differently. They create their own unique body sculptures for their rich natural taxidermy designs. Moreover they stuff it with over 40 years of art direction experience from their successful careers in advertising and film. Collecting the finest pieces of antiques from all over the world is part of the process. They adjust these pieces and combine them with their luxurious animal objects, which they sell to collectors and interior designers all over the world.

Sinke and van Tongeren both live in the Amsterdam area, The Netherlands. They have been working together for over a decade as a creative team in advertising. They’re awarded internationally on numerous festivals, including Cannes, France and The New York  Festival.

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