Wieteke Heldens (NL/USA) presenta I nuovi lavori prodotti durante la sua residenza alla Fusion Art Gallery di Torino. Tra le altre opera in mostra, l’artista presenta: i “Content drawings”, disegni su sacchetti di carta usati e collezionati a Torino; “The Italian Legend”, opera su tela e “The day that Donald Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States” eseguita con tempera all’uovo. “Non chiedere scusa e mai dare spiegazioni” è un motto di Carl Andre che Hanne Darboven usa spesso. __ Wieteke Heldens (NL/USA) will show new work made during her two months residency at Fusion Art Gallery in Torino. On view will be among other things “Content drawings” on used paper bags from Torino, “The Italian Legend” on canvas and “The day that Donald Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States” with egg tempera. Never apologize and never explain is a motto from Carl Andre that Hanne Darboven often used. |
Wieteke Heldens was born in Ottersum, The Netherlands in 1982. Heldens works in the medium of painting. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague in 2007. She had her first solo-show at Flux Factory in 2011 and exhibited in the The Hague Gemeente museum, Royal Palace in Amsterdam and internationally in Switzerland, France, Germany, Denmark and the US. In 2013 Heldens won the Royal prize for Painting in the Netherlands. Heldens is currently represented by gallery Borzo in Amsterdam and is an active member of Quartair Contemporary Art Initiatives in The Hague and Flux Factory in NYC. She lives and works in New York and in The Hague.
“I make paintings, painthings and paintthings. I have often tried to make my last painthing, but I always fail. I am consistently inconsistent. I obsessively need the canvas to understand life. In my work I use everything around me but I put these personal anecdotes into abstract concepts. I wish I was like Hannah Darboven or On Kawara, but I'm not. There is often a conflict in my work that needs to be solved and that is why I cannot stop painting.
On the first view I make abstract, conceptual work. But at the same time every work is obsessive and compulsive. Rules and mathematical formulas are the starting point, but the impossibility to turn off feelings, thoughts and emotions, prevents that the paintings are too general and distant. With a sense of perspective I use a conceptual process.
A recurring theme in my work is to stop and start again. I strive for an almost healing contemplation. This leads to a plastic translation where the sense of order and system is played by chance and sensibility.”
Wieteke Heldens (1982, Ottersum, The Netherlands)
www.wietekeheldens.com
[email protected]
Lives and works in New York and Den Haag
Active member of Fluxfactory, New York since 2011
Active member of Quartair, The Hague since 2014
Education
Royal academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2003-2007
DNA, post graduate, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2007-2009
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China, 2009
Artist in Residence:
2017 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2016 Fusion Art gallery, Torino, Italy
2016 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2015 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2014 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2012 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2010 Coup De Ville, Artist village, St Niklaas, Belgium
Subsidies/ Prizes
Nomination Strabag Artaward International, 2016
Royal Prize for Painting, Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst, 2013
Startstipendium Fonds BKVB, 2009-2010
Selected Solo and Duo exhibitions:
2016 With Colored Content, solo exhibition, Fusion Art Gallery, Torino, Italy
2016 Once upon a line, solo exhibition, Fluxfactory, New York
2015 Painting, Painthing and Paintthing (the verbs), solo exhibition, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2014 Carlijn Mens & Wieteke Heldens, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Duo exhibition, Amsterdam
2011 Paintings, Painthings and Paintthings, solo exhibition, Fluxfactory New York, USA, 2011
2011 Pain Things, Fun Things, duo exhibition, Roepaen, Ottersum, The Netherlands, 2011
Selected Group exhibitions:
2016 Amsterdam Drawing, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2016 Coup De Ville, Sint Niklaas, Belgium
2016 New Dream, New Future, Schema Art Museum, Cheongju, South-Korea
2016 FAIR-show, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2016 Re-Juvenation, Thornwillow Press Inc. Newburgh, NY
2016 Art Cologne, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2016 Drawing Front (and back), Quartair, The Hague
2016 Art Rotterdam, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2015 21 Anniversary show, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2015 Een Blauwe Kamer, Quartair, The Hague
2015 Trial and Triumph, Royal academy of Art, The Hague
2015 Amsterdam Drawing, Art Fair Amsterdam, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2015 Not so silent auction, Art in General, New York, USA
2015 Blind Date, Alabama,sir, Leipzig, Germany
2014 Homecoming, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2014 THERE IS NO I in W139, W139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2014 On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, EXO, The Hague
2014 Your engagement has consequences, Billytown, The Hague, The Netherlands
2014 Raw, Art Fair,Rotterdam, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2014 Not-So-Silent Auction, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2013 Koninklijke prijs voor vrije schilderkunst, Royal Palace, Amsterdam
2013 DRAWn to beTEKENis, Gemak, The Hague, The Netherlands
2013 Gallery Artist + Guest, C&H Art Space, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2013 Capriccio, JCA DE KOK centrum voor actuele kunst, The Hague
2012 WAT’s Up, Project Space Parterretrap, The Hague, The Netherlands
2012 Prune in the sky, Toves gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2012 The Infamous and Only Somewhat Ambassadorial Outpost of the Semi-Legitimate Nation of Flux, Spanien19C, Aarhus, Denmark
2012 A.I.R. time, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Democratic workingtitle (for now), Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Dots and Dashes, Myrtle Windows Gallery, New York, USA
2011 Sounds like Architecture, Maria Aalter, Belgium
2011 The Habitable Spaces Auction, auction, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Status!Status!Status!, Interstate Projects, Brooklyn, New York,USA
2011 Flux Factory’s Not So Silent Auction, Center 548, Chelsea,NY,USA
2010 K@R-t-Blanche, Roepaen, Ottersum, The Netherlands
2010 35-35+, Bed elZE, The Hague, The Netherlands
2009 Muurschilderen, Bed elZE, The Hague, The Netherlands
2009 DNA, Quartair, The Hague, The Netherlands
2008 Rendez Vous, Appolo Art Hotel, Bruges, Belgium
2008 All tomorrow's parties, Museum het Petershuis, Gennep, The Netherlands
2008 Fast Feed Forward Control, Gallery Nikki Diana Marquardt, Paris, France
2007 7-UP, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
2007 Thun le paradis, Wilfried Von Gunten Projektraum fur Zeitgenossische Kunst, Thun, Switzerland
2007 Endexam exhibition, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague,The Netherlands
2007 Voorspel, BINK36, The Hague, The Netherlands
“I make paintings, painthings and paintthings. I have often tried to make my last painthing, but I always fail. I am consistently inconsistent. I obsessively need the canvas to understand life. In my work I use everything around me but I put these personal anecdotes into abstract concepts. I wish I was like Hannah Darboven or On Kawara, but I'm not. There is often a conflict in my work that needs to be solved and that is why I cannot stop painting.
On the first view I make abstract, conceptual work. But at the same time every work is obsessive and compulsive. Rules and mathematical formulas are the starting point, but the impossibility to turn off feelings, thoughts and emotions, prevents that the paintings are too general and distant. With a sense of perspective I use a conceptual process.
A recurring theme in my work is to stop and start again. I strive for an almost healing contemplation. This leads to a plastic translation where the sense of order and system is played by chance and sensibility.”
Wieteke Heldens (1982, Ottersum, The Netherlands)
www.wietekeheldens.com
[email protected]
Lives and works in New York and Den Haag
Active member of Fluxfactory, New York since 2011
Active member of Quartair, The Hague since 2014
Education
Royal academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2003-2007
DNA, post graduate, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2007-2009
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China, 2009
Artist in Residence:
2017 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2016 Fusion Art gallery, Torino, Italy
2016 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2015 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2014 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2012 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2010 Coup De Ville, Artist village, St Niklaas, Belgium
Subsidies/ Prizes
Nomination Strabag Artaward International, 2016
Royal Prize for Painting, Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst, 2013
Startstipendium Fonds BKVB, 2009-2010
Selected Solo and Duo exhibitions:
2016 With Colored Content, solo exhibition, Fusion Art Gallery, Torino, Italy
2016 Once upon a line, solo exhibition, Fluxfactory, New York
2015 Painting, Painthing and Paintthing (the verbs), solo exhibition, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2014 Carlijn Mens & Wieteke Heldens, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Duo exhibition, Amsterdam
2011 Paintings, Painthings and Paintthings, solo exhibition, Fluxfactory New York, USA, 2011
2011 Pain Things, Fun Things, duo exhibition, Roepaen, Ottersum, The Netherlands, 2011
Selected Group exhibitions:
2016 Amsterdam Drawing, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2016 Coup De Ville, Sint Niklaas, Belgium
2016 New Dream, New Future, Schema Art Museum, Cheongju, South-Korea
2016 FAIR-show, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2016 Re-Juvenation, Thornwillow Press Inc. Newburgh, NY
2016 Art Cologne, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2016 Drawing Front (and back), Quartair, The Hague
2016 Art Rotterdam, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2015 21 Anniversary show, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2015 Een Blauwe Kamer, Quartair, The Hague
2015 Trial and Triumph, Royal academy of Art, The Hague
2015 Amsterdam Drawing, Art Fair Amsterdam, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2015 Not so silent auction, Art in General, New York, USA
2015 Blind Date, Alabama,sir, Leipzig, Germany
2014 Homecoming, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2014 THERE IS NO I in W139, W139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2014 On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, EXO, The Hague
2014 Your engagement has consequences, Billytown, The Hague, The Netherlands
2014 Raw, Art Fair,Rotterdam, Borzo modern & contemporary art, Amsterdam
2014 Not-So-Silent Auction, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2013 Koninklijke prijs voor vrije schilderkunst, Royal Palace, Amsterdam
2013 DRAWn to beTEKENis, Gemak, The Hague, The Netherlands
2013 Gallery Artist + Guest, C&H Art Space, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2013 Capriccio, JCA DE KOK centrum voor actuele kunst, The Hague
2012 WAT’s Up, Project Space Parterretrap, The Hague, The Netherlands
2012 Prune in the sky, Toves gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2012 The Infamous and Only Somewhat Ambassadorial Outpost of the Semi-Legitimate Nation of Flux, Spanien19C, Aarhus, Denmark
2012 A.I.R. time, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Democratic workingtitle (for now), Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Dots and Dashes, Myrtle Windows Gallery, New York, USA
2011 Sounds like Architecture, Maria Aalter, Belgium
2011 The Habitable Spaces Auction, auction, Fluxfactory, New York, USA
2011 Status!Status!Status!, Interstate Projects, Brooklyn, New York,USA
2011 Flux Factory’s Not So Silent Auction, Center 548, Chelsea,NY,USA
2010 K@R-t-Blanche, Roepaen, Ottersum, The Netherlands
2010 35-35+, Bed elZE, The Hague, The Netherlands
2009 Muurschilderen, Bed elZE, The Hague, The Netherlands
2009 DNA, Quartair, The Hague, The Netherlands
2008 Rendez Vous, Appolo Art Hotel, Bruges, Belgium
2008 All tomorrow's parties, Museum het Petershuis, Gennep, The Netherlands
2008 Fast Feed Forward Control, Gallery Nikki Diana Marquardt, Paris, France
2007 7-UP, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
2007 Thun le paradis, Wilfried Von Gunten Projektraum fur Zeitgenossische Kunst, Thun, Switzerland
2007 Endexam exhibition, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague,The Netherlands
2007 Voorspel, BINK36, The Hague, The Netherlands
WIETEKE HELDENS (NL)
OPEN STUDIO MEET THE ARTIST during ARTISSIMA WEEKEND - Saturday 5 from 7 pm Wieteke Heldens - website
lives and works in The Hague and New York. Artist in residence October - November - Philip PetersEvery once in a while you come across the work of an artist that somehow eludes you while being crystal clear at the same time. That's when you know that something special is happening. Dutch artist Wieteke Heldens, now staying at Fluxfactory, has been producing work for some years now that is at the same time beautiful, funny, seemingly futile and most disquieting.
I have rarely seen work by a painter so consistently inconsistent in 'style'. With each work she seems to reinvent herself, almost as if her life depends on it and I mean that only partly as a metaphor. Many artists deal in their work with their inner feelings, it could even be maintained that in fact each work of art is (also) a self-portrait. But on the canvas - or whatever material is used - it becomes an aesthetic problem, in the process of being made the artwork transforms itself into an autonomous presence, as it were. But in some rare cases the created distance between personal experience and transformed artistic statement is extremely small and one can feel that even if the exact meaning of the visual image isn't completely clear in the sense that one can describe it in terms of emblems and symbols. Wieteke Heldens' paintings can show a blue dress on an otherwise white plane, or a head of a Panda bear, or a few large white letters like holes in a black 'background', or a number of partly intertwining, fragile lines which seem lost in an otherwise empty environment or small hatched lines constituting different planes which seem to feel uncomfortable with each other from a sense of balanced colours in a composition. In all these cases - and there are many more - nothing seems wrong at first sight while at closer inspection everything seems twisted, unsettling, brought together to cause a feeling of uneasiness - or, rather, they are the very incarnation of uneasiness. This brings a kind of alarming urgency to these painting that is almost physically painful and one can only conclude that they actually originate in some kind of existential pain, the pain of being in a world which is unsafe, uncertain, unstable and, indeed, often hurtful. One can then interpret this on different levels varying from the deeply personal to the universal condition of globalized culture. The classic example of a great painter tormented by obsessions is, of course, Van Gogh. Indeed Wieteke Heldens may in this regard be a distant relative of the earlier Dutch master. Her works show us hardly disguised raw nerves, what we see in these paintings is someone trying to cope with existence and in that sense they read like a diary of pain. Yet this work is never melodramatic, it doesn't evoke compassion; rather it invites us to look into the mirror and recognize ourselves and our own existential struggles which are defining moment of the human condition. So the personal does actually acquire universal meaning and in a way it also offers some comfort just like there is a certain comfort in obsessions and compulsions: they are essentially efforts to not only conjure up but also exorcize the demons. The head of the Panda bear, for instance, may represent both an image (a portrait, if you like) of a demon and a picture of a soft cuddly toy that can magically ward off danger. So if these paintings often represent primal fear and terror, they at the same time provide their own therapy. And isn't art indeed also therapeutic in the broadest sense of the word, a source and portrait of sorrow and pain as well as comfort and sanity? Isn't this what, in the end, the human condition is about: about being expelled from paradise and wholeness and about finding ways of coping with that situation? |
LESLEE BROERSMA (USA)
Leslee Broersma - website
Senior Instructor Libby Arts RAP University of Colorado, Boulder Artist in residence October Leslee Broersma is a photographer and video artist who lives in Boulder, Colorado. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has taught photography, video and electronic media at the University of Denver, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is the recipient of many grants including a WESTAF/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a New Forms/Andy Warhol Foundation Initiative Grant, and a Colorado Council for the Arts Fellowship. Her most recent video, in fear, has been shown at the Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut at Storrs,The Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, Colorado, and most recently, at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts in the exhibition, "Presumed Innocence".
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