H+F
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.
Fundació Han Nefkens
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.
Han Nefkens
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”.
PEPE ESPALIÚ
Pepe Espaliú was born in 1955 in Córdoba, Spain, where he died in 1993.
He is one of the key artists in the history of contemporary Spanish art. Strongly influenced by literature, poetry and psychoanalysis, Espaliú left behind an intense, copious and coherent oeuvre brimming with metaphors and recurring symbols such as masks, gloves, scars and tortoise shells. His sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs and performances, express his interests and concerns about his sexuality and spirituality and the fears and traumas linked to the social experiences of both. Later, after contracting HIV, he simplified and reoriented his iconography towards his illness; this was when he created his famous crutches and carrying chairs, and ultimately took part in his famous public actions that are remembered as much for their social and political transcendence as their artistic aspect. His work forms part of the collections of leading museums throughout Spain and Europe, including the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Seville), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), la Fundació “la Caixa” (Barcelona), MACBA (Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona) and Tate Modern (London).