Among us

2020
Installation in semi-public space
12 objects
Various sizes and materials
Breda Central Station (NL)

In this work, twelve sculptures are seen hanging out together in a huge glass vitrine at a busy train station. All of them stand close to human height, forming an overview or summary of ways to be humanly present. Their familiarity behind the glass simultaneously includes and excludes the viewer in and from their intimate meeting. 

Esther van Zoelen, artist, frequent visitor of station Breda and intern at my studio in 2020: ‘The work turned out increasingly relevant over the course of the seven months it’s been exhibited, though it was made before the Corona crisis hit us. It speaks of closeness and distance at the same time. Objects that seem made to be touched, now stand on a platform and are separated from me by a high glass window. In the blue box there seems to be some sort of intimacy, or am I just imagining that? A pile of toilet rolls stands still, a bit in the middle of a group of persons. These persons are not human, but other strange combinations of objects. They are all different, but very open. They show what they are, nothing less and nothing more. On this place, on the edge of Breda Station, there is a certain solemnity, a stillness to be found. That pile of toilet rolls can be read differently now, through all that has happened. And especially now the search for closeness means so much more.’

Among Us was presented in a duo exhibition with Helmut Smits titled Something In-Between, curated by Roeliena Aukema and Liza Voetman. The show took place between 14 February and 27 September 2020.

The sculpture Happy Birthday, which became a part of Among Us, is a collaboration with David Bernstein, and was previously on show in our duo exhibition Between the Soup and the Potatoes at Billytown the Kitchen

Many thanks to Gemeente Breda and Jacqueline Kostermans for making the project possible. Big shout out to my interns, Yasmin Kök, Minne Ponsen, Boetie Zijlstra, and Esther van Zoelen for their time and effort, helping me to make, set up, and take down the work in challenging circumstances.

In this work, twelve sculptures are seen hanging out together in a huge glass vitrine at a busy train station. All of them stand close to human height, forming an overview or summary of ways to be humanly present. Their familiarity behind the glass simultaneously includes and excludes the viewer in and from their intimate meeting. 

Esther van Zoelen, artist, frequent visitor of station Breda and intern at my studio in 2020: ‘The work turned out increasingly relevant over the course of the seven months it’s been exhibited, though it was made before the Corona crisis hit us. It speaks of closeness and distance at the same time. Objects that seem made to be touched, now stand on a platform and are separated from me by a high glass window. In the blue box there seems to be some sort of intimacy, or am I just imagining that? A pile of toilet rolls stands still, a bit in the middle of a group of persons. These persons are not human, but other strange combinations of objects. They are all different, but very open. They show what they are, nothing less and nothing more. On this place, on the edge of Breda Station, there is a certain solemnity, a stillness to be found. That pile of toilet rolls can be read differently now, through all that has happened. And especially now the search for closeness means so much more.’

Among Us was presented in a duo exhibition with Helmut Smits titled Something In-Between, curated by Roeliena Aukema and Liza Voetman. The show took place between 14 February and 27 September 2020.

The sculpture Happy Birthday, which became a part of Among Us, is a collaboration with David Bernstein, and was previously on show in our duo exhibition Between the Soup and the Potatoes at Billytown the Kitchen

Many thanks to Gemeente Breda and Jacqueline Kostermans for making the project possible. Big shout out to my interns, Yasmin Kök, Minne Ponsen, Boetie Zijlstra, and Esther van Zoelen for their time and effort, helping me to make, set up, and take down the work in challenging circumstances.

Object voor opa

2020
Sculpture / touch-experience
Epoxy clay, 16 x 6 x 3 cm
Private exhibition for my grandfather

This is W.C. Reij, a retired professor and engineer, and also my grandfather. We’ve always been close. He was very important to my creative upbringing, taking me to museums, drawing together with me, and meticulously following my art career for as long as he was able to. 

During the last few years of his life he had to deal with aphasia, an impairment causing him to slowly lose his linguistic and other cognitive abilities. When he could barely speak any longer, Covid-19 robbed us of the only way of communication we had left: touch. 

That’s when I decided to make an art experience that was tailored to his specific condition; one that was to be experienced somewhat through sight, but predominantly through touch. The shape of Object voor Opa (Object for Grandpa) is based on movements I remembered him doing with my hands, on ways of touching and holding on that he seemed to enjoy. 

I shot this video during the first encounter he had with the object. It is a fragment of the approximately 40-minute duration of the experience of his hands discovering and rediscovering the object, him looking at me, back at the object, and discovering it again. He had been nearly constantly holding it during what turned out to be the last two months of his life. 

In loving memory of Willem Cornelis Reij, 4 November 1923 – 3 September 2020

This is W.C. Reij, a retired professor and engineer, and also my grandfather. We’ve always been close. He was very important to my creative upbringing, taking me to museums, drawing together with me, and meticulously following my art career for as long as he was able to. 

During the last few years of his life he had to deal with aphasia, an impairment causing him to slowly lose his linguistic and other cognitive abilities. When he could barely speak any longer, Covid-19 robbed us of the only way of communication we had left: touch. 

That’s when I decided to make an art experience that was tailored to his specific condition; one that was to be experienced somewhat through sight, but predominantly through touch. The shape of Object voor Opa (Object for Grandpa) is based on movements I remembered him doing with my hands, on ways of touching and holding on that he seemed to enjoy. 

I shot this video during the first encounter he had with the object. It is a fragment of the approximately 40-minute duration of the experience of his hands discovering and rediscovering the object, him looking at me, back at the object, and discovering it again. He had been nearly constantly holding it during what turned out to be the last two months of his life. 

In loving memory of Willem Cornelis Reij, 4 November 1923 – 3 September 2020