Han Nefkens started to collect art in 2000. The H+F Collection, named after himself and his partner Felipe, is in long-term loan to various museums in The Netherlands and abroad. Nowadays Han Nefkens is not only active as a collector but also as an initiator of international art projects, often in collaboration with museums and other art institutions.
The Han Nefkens Foundation is a private non-profit organisation that was set up in Barcelona in 2009 with the aim of promoting the production of contemporary artworks. The mission is to stimulate artistic creation in Barcelona by offering international artists an opportunity to create artworks and interventions in the city, and to promote other fields of contemporary creation.
According to Han Nefkens, sharing is the antidote to loneliness, and he does so through his artistic and anti-AIDS projects and his writing. In 1995, he made his debut with the autobiographical novel Bloedverwanten (“Parents”), which was followed by Twee lege stoelen (“Two empty chairs”, 2006) and De gevlogen vogel (“The bird flew”, 2008). Nefkens also writes short pieces, “vignettes”.
Han Nefkens
Writer and art collector Han Nefkens is founder and president of ArtAids. Born in Rotterdam in 1954, he studied journalism in France and the USA. He lived in Mexico until 1987, working as a correspondent and radio journalist. He is the author of a novel (1995) and two collections of short pieces (2005 and 2008). In 2000, he began his collection of international contemporary art, the H+F Collection, a major part of which is given on long-term loan to museums within the Netherlands and abroad. Infected with HIV since 1987, he founded ArtAids in 2006.
www.hfcollection.org
www.hannefkens.com