projects

statue

Teddy bears

Teddy bears, 2008 & .

The teddy bear: thè ultimate stuffed animal from our childhood days. An object without a will upon wich we project all our love and hate, dreams and fears. For a while. Then we grow up and dump Teddy: used up and no longer wanted. How would the bears look when all that they have absorbed in that time would be visible?

Teddybears, big and small, made from second hand blankets. Variations on the traditional pattern of the original Teddy bear. I made the small ones for the exhibition ‘Terugblik in kindertijd’ at Ververs and the big ones for the performance of the ‘Foolish People’ called ‘Terra Extremitas’ at the docks in Amsterdam.

Nightmares

Nightmares, 2008.

Your blankets turn into the mares of your nightmares: scary, but beautiful at the same time. I made four, like the four apocalyptic riders and the four elements. The Fire Nightmare has been exhibited at Villa Maarheeze, Den Haag during the Haags Talent exhibition in 2014.

 

  • Nightmare Fire, 2008, blanket statue
  • Nightmare Water, 2008, blanket statue
  • Nightmare Air, 2008, blanket statue
  • Nightmare Earth, 2008, blanket statue

Erolife 1994-1996

From 1994-1997 I participated in the Erolife fair with a couple of projects with an erotic connotation to see if a different audience could be reached.

Vingerbad /  Finger(s)bath 1994

In 1994 I had a stand at the Erolife fair together with Jan Bouma. He presented his statue ‘The King’ and I showed the ‘Vingerbad’.

De Jas / the Coat 1995

In 1995 Jan Bouma and I had another stand at the Erolife fair. This time Jan presented his statue ‘the Soldier’ and I ‘the Coat’. The Coat was not only presented as a statue but was worn by a performer who walked all over the grounds of the fair showing ‘his goods’ to all who were willing and un-willing.

The Coat has also been performed at two other erotic fairs in Belgium.

Jongeheerzepen / Willie soaps 1996-‘97

In 1996 the Jongeheerzepen project was presented for the first time at Erolife’96 taking place at the Jaarbeurs, Utrecht.

In 1997 the Jongeheerzepen had a presentation in Galerie Liter, Boekhorststraat, Den Haag.

Jongeheerzepen at Erolife’96

December 1996, Jaarbeurs, Utrecht

The Jongeheerzepen had a large stand that showed the soaps and formed the base for a continuously running performance during the 4 day of the fair.

The Jongeheer-promotion team consisted of:

Dr. Rebecca Rosenboom, Professor Swartjes, his (or her) assistant & the three promo girls.

The promo girls asked the Erolife visitors to fill in an inquiry form. The results of this enquiry were showed a large ‘score-board’ that Dr. Rosenboom kept updated. She meant to find out what the most popular soap was. Unfortunately for her was that the promo girls were very biased and tried their utmost best to persuade people to vote for their favourite. Professor Swartjes (who re-invented the soaps) thought the therapeutic side of the soaps utter nonsense, but, the soap itself was naturally the very best of the best.

In 1997 Jongeheerzepen had a small selling stand without the performance.

Jongeheerzepen at Galerie Liter

May1997, at Galerie liter, Boekhorststraat, Den haag

The Jongeheer promo team also opened the exhibition at Galerie Liter.

After the opening the large shop window of the gallery functioned as a giant viewing box. From the street one could see inside the Jongeheer stand with the promo team in the form of life sized painted cardboard dolls.

The sex-shop on the other side of the street advertised the Jongeheer soaps in its window and you could go and watch the Jongeheer commercials in one of their porn movie booths.

You can watch the 3 commercials here:

The Nursery

The Nursery – 2008.

An installation for the performance ‘Terra Extremitas’ by the company Foolish People.

At the invitation of the English company Foolish People I made a nursery in a closed off room. I used black duck tape to draw on the walls and floor with. There were beds lined out of the children that used to be there. At the heads of their bed spaces were their names and a drawing of a worn-out thrown away doll. On top of their bed spaces sat their abandoned teddy bear who was now alive (as was fitting in the story of the performance) and had taken over the most prominent characteristics of the child who disappeared.

The impression was made by Petra van der Meijden.

 

Interior landscape

Interior landscape – 2009.

Freestanding 3D linocut on wood, 6x4x3 m.

After I made ‘Den Haag Binnenstebuiten’ I used a similar set up to make an indirect self portrait. It became a free standing room with images of objects and direct self portraits throughout the years (inside) and landscapes that are meaningful to me and that I believe make up my ‘interior landscape’.

This project was partly financed by Stroom and in 2008 I had a small exhibition of the project in progress at the Stroom facilities in Den Haag: ‘Ondertussen’.(‘In the mean-time’) The work was also exhibited in Pictura, Dortrecht in 2009 during the ‘Printing outside the frame’ exhibition.

The Guardian, 2009

The Guardian – 2009.

Blanket statue. Height: 160 cm.

He stands guard: of what he has since long forgotten, but he is there, sees all, is all, ever watching.

Nightmares, 2008

Nightmares – 2008.

Blanket statues: made of old blankets they refer to the fears and comforts of our childhood.

What stuff are dreams made off?

 

 

 

Teddybears, 2008

Teddybears – 2008

Small statues made of old blankets.

The must loved toy takes on the character of it’s kid-owner.

Energies – In the woods

A performance with 3 costume statues. Deep in the woods 3 very different energies are manifesting themselves. They seem to be closed off from each other; each in their own little world. But is this right? Don’t they belong together and form a whole? Based on the Chakra energies. videorealisation: André Bijma assistance & light: William Pennings performers: Ingetje Wielenga, Yanaika Holle, Ilse Versluijs music: Davide Bellotta. Presented at Ververs gallery, Amsterdam in 2011. Exhibition of drawings of the Freaks series, the silkscreen print (the back piece) ‘In the woods’ and 3 statue costumes. The performance took place during the opening. The videorealisation was done separately.

2011