Solo Exhibit January 2012
MARIJ BOUWMANS
MARIJ BOUWMANS EXPLORES THE SYMBOLIC VALUE OF SKIN IN
THINGS THAT LAST
January 5 - 29, 2012
Fig Tree Gallery, 664 Van Ness Ave, Fresno, CA, presents Things That Last, an exhibition of new works by visual artist Marij Bouwmans. The multi-media show was organized by Teresa España in close collaboration with the artist.
Things That Last is grounded in Bouwmans’ insights about skin–both on a literal and figurative level. The artist adopts latex, a material used to make artificial skin in the film industry, to serve as the casing for two sizable soft sculptures. The free-standing Skinwicht 1 and 2, braced by grief and strength, are pieced together by needle and thread–a technique suggestive of creation and repair. The act of sewing references first-wave feminist artists who honored traditional feminine pursuits in their work. Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (1974-79) is one example.
Bouwmans use of non-traditional materials breaks with the ranking of media established in the 18th-century and calls to mind Louise Bourgeois’s experiments with unusual materials including latex, rubber, plaster and cement. Bouwmans further employs latex for Deficits, Defects and Repair, her “defective” skin paintings, and as the fabric for a playfully-stitched set of children’s clothes, Pricking and Threading. The clothing symbolizes a psychological concept known as Second Skin. The artist says, “They describe the deficits, defects, and repair of experiences from early childhood.” Both works represent the idea that “imperfections” can be reintegrated into life. Bouwmans approach brings to mind contemporary feminist artist Kiki Smith whose work addresses bodies that are vulnerable, broken, leaky and uncontained–bodies that Smith lovingly patches up.
Bouwmans’ 2009 exhibition “Amplification of Mood” included “Tapestry, and a collage of photos of all the hands that worked on tapestry.” The collaborative effort included friends and multiple-generation family members. Similarly, the video installation Lips, coproduced by video artist Jonathan Mathis, is the result of an international alliance formed by the artist. Bouwmans invited dozens of women to co-author a fairytale featuring the Skinwicht, the soft sculptures, with the heroine Scarlett being the protagonist. In the video, participants read excerpts from the story as the camera focuses on their lips–an allusion to past oral traditions.
Bouwmans, a psychotherapist and visual artist, maintains a career in the Netherlands and in the United States. Based upon her expertise in depth psychology and visual art, Bouwmans utilizes an interdisciplinary model of inquiry into the creative process. “Things That Last” is an unique exhibition that uses skin as a starting point to explore a range of emotional memories, which the artist expands into a surreal and archetypal realm.
THINGS THAT LAST
January 5 - 29, 2012
Fig Tree Gallery, 664 Van Ness Ave, Fresno, CA, presents Things That Last, an exhibition of new works by visual artist Marij Bouwmans. The multi-media show was organized by Teresa España in close collaboration with the artist.
Things That Last is grounded in Bouwmans’ insights about skin–both on a literal and figurative level. The artist adopts latex, a material used to make artificial skin in the film industry, to serve as the casing for two sizable soft sculptures. The free-standing Skinwicht 1 and 2, braced by grief and strength, are pieced together by needle and thread–a technique suggestive of creation and repair. The act of sewing references first-wave feminist artists who honored traditional feminine pursuits in their work. Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (1974-79) is one example.
Bouwmans use of non-traditional materials breaks with the ranking of media established in the 18th-century and calls to mind Louise Bourgeois’s experiments with unusual materials including latex, rubber, plaster and cement. Bouwmans further employs latex for Deficits, Defects and Repair, her “defective” skin paintings, and as the fabric for a playfully-stitched set of children’s clothes, Pricking and Threading. The clothing symbolizes a psychological concept known as Second Skin. The artist says, “They describe the deficits, defects, and repair of experiences from early childhood.” Both works represent the idea that “imperfections” can be reintegrated into life. Bouwmans approach brings to mind contemporary feminist artist Kiki Smith whose work addresses bodies that are vulnerable, broken, leaky and uncontained–bodies that Smith lovingly patches up.
Bouwmans’ 2009 exhibition “Amplification of Mood” included “Tapestry, and a collage of photos of all the hands that worked on tapestry.” The collaborative effort included friends and multiple-generation family members. Similarly, the video installation Lips, coproduced by video artist Jonathan Mathis, is the result of an international alliance formed by the artist. Bouwmans invited dozens of women to co-author a fairytale featuring the Skinwicht, the soft sculptures, with the heroine Scarlett being the protagonist. In the video, participants read excerpts from the story as the camera focuses on their lips–an allusion to past oral traditions.
Bouwmans, a psychotherapist and visual artist, maintains a career in the Netherlands and in the United States. Based upon her expertise in depth psychology and visual art, Bouwmans utilizes an interdisciplinary model of inquiry into the creative process. “Things That Last” is an unique exhibition that uses skin as a starting point to explore a range of emotional memories, which the artist expands into a surreal and archetypal realm.
Statement
I have reached no conclusions
have erected no boundaries
shutting out shutting in, separating inside from outside:
I have
drawn no lines
as
manifold events of sand
change the dunes shape that
will not be the same shape
tomorrow.
So I am willing to go along,
to accept
the becoming thought
to stake off no beginnings
or ends,
establish no walls
- A.R. Ammons
I have reached no conclusions
have erected no boundaries
shutting out shutting in, separating inside from outside:
I have
drawn no lines
as
manifold events of sand
change the dunes shape that
will not be the same shape
tomorrow.
So I am willing to go along,
to accept
the becoming thought
to stake off no beginnings
or ends,
establish no walls
- A.R. Ammons
Further Info