Sier Aard

Artists: Maaike Fransen, Anna Gray, Krista Israel, Esther Jiskoot, Mia Lerssi, Katja Prins, Ellen Urselmann, Nataliya Vladychko
Curator: Katrin Maurer
Visual Design: Fontspectrum
Opening: 21 Jan 2023 16:00 – 20:00
Exhibition Period: 21 Jan 2023  –  31 Mar 2023

´I am not what I am. I am what I do with my hands. ´ Louise Bourgeois.

Sierad in its Dutch meaning, jewelry, emphasises on the sensual relationship of an object to the human body. The two words of this exhibition´s title, carry the meaning of adornment and ornamentality on the one hand and earthiness on the other, as well as entity, essence or soul.

The exhibition Sier Aard focuses on the poetic aspects of material language and seeks to emphasize on the intrinsic value of the physical experience of artworks. The rhythmic aspects of repetitive working processes with multiple materials, are developed by these artists within their own intuitive working methods, and a wide spectrum of material knowledge. Their abstract objects become extensions of deeply personal emotions and perceptions, as they balance between the archaic and futuristic. Magali Reus concludes in her recent text, A Sentence in Soil: ´The idea of multiplication or seriality can also be used as a rhythmic device for enforcing relationships to physicality’.

The art works of Maaike Fransen, Anna Gray, Krista Israel, Esther Jiskoot, Mia Lerssi, Katja Prins, Ellen Urselmann and Nataliya Vladychko share this sense of longing for physical presence within their unique material language: The aura of an object or it´s certain healing energy, as we know it from ritualistic objects of our ancestors.