We are proud to present Mirjam Vreeswijk’s (Gorinchem, NL, 1997) first solo exhibition within the gallery. In recent months, Vreeswijk successfully exhibited in galleries in Los Angeles and New York and at art fair Art Busan in South Korea. Now she returns to our capital with an extensive series of new works.
Hideaway, 2023, 120 x 100 cm, oil on canvas
About the exhibition
The paintings in this exhibition show the field of tension characteristic of Mirjam Vreeswijk (Gorinchem, NL, 1997). Her work is beautiful and repulsive, dark and cheerful, grand and decorative at the same time. Intangible structures of natural phenomena such as waterfalls, lakes, lava flows and explosions are made tangible and decorative by being shaped like roses or held together by a bow. Vreeswijk creates an atmosphere that is at once melancholic, uncanny, eerie, wondrous and lovely.
The work carries different realities and encourages one's own interpretation. Best Served Cold, for example shows a frozen fountain, reminiscent in form of Louise Bourgeois' creepy spiders. At the same time, it looks like a kind of museum piece, or ornament in an ice palace. A contrasting shape is visible in the theatre curtain in the background.
Vreeswijk plays with what is real or an illusion, what has depth or is actually flat. Just like in a film or theatre play, anything is possible. The reference to film and theatre is also literally reflected in her paintings by depicting curtains as seen in theatres and movie houses. The exhibition design also reflects this element of her work. Her paintings are presented against the background of a gigantic theatre curtain
During the opening, we will present an essay, which Wouter and the artist wrote about her work.
Artworks
