1. Artist with his work - All artworks by Rinus Van de Velde, Courtesy of Tim Van Laere Gallery, Photo: Antoine van Kaan
Rinus Van de Velde
Until the end of may, the museum Voorlinden (situated next to the Dutch city of Den Haag) present an exhibition dedicated to Rinus Van de Velde.
While the exhibition is mostly made out of works coming from the artist studio, the exhibition is actuality divided into different themes such as Masquerade, En plein air or Myth. In all of those rooms, the works of the artist enter into a dialogue with the works of the collection of the museum, thus creating unexpected encounters, while presenting lesser-known works from the collection.
The artist
Rinus Van de Velde is an artist born in 1983 and who lives and works in Antwerp. While the artist graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he originally studied sculpture making before switching his practice to drawing and painting, first in color, then in black and white, in charcoal.
In his works, most of them of large format, the artist explores his personal archives of memories, and his fascination of photography derived from magazines such as National Geographic. His latest works present this fascination by recreating found footage or even stages non-existent scenes in photography, which he then uses as source material.
Beside his realist work, the artist is also known for his gigantic installations, sometime made up of numerous pieces and taking up a large section of the room.
The exhibition
In the exhibition of the Museum Voorlinden, the artist Rinus Van de Velde decides to play with his own works, but also the collection of the museum, thus rethinking the role of an artist in an exhibition.
In his exhibition, the visitors are involved into the head of the artist, and they are a spectator of the unfolding dreams and stories of the artist. The exhibition is like the title suggests "The Armchair Voyager", a story and a fictional autobiography which the artist presents thought his works. Like the artist said, he started to invent a life that he never lived, thus creating a parallel universe, for Rinus Van de Velde V2.
In the introduction room of the exhibition, the visitors enter into a volt of an old bank, before entering the exhibition with his fictional personage: the doppelgänger. In the room, you will see a work by Joseph Cornell, an artist he deeply admire and from who he borrowed the concept of the person who prefer to travel with his mind than in reality.
In his fantasy, Rinus Van de Velde and his fictional character can change thei mood every day, thus referring to his everyday thought: "I wake up every day, look in the mirror and see a pure genius staring back at me".
With his gigantic works made out of colourful oil pastels and sticks and his blacks and whites drawings, the artist is exploring his fascination to photography.
In the second room of the exhibition titled "En plein air", he decides to juxtapose his works with a photograph of Thomas Demand and with a painting of Giorgio Morandi. This room is especially reminiscent of his trip to the Grand Canyon when he was 12, and how when he arrives there he would not get out of the car. Thus, he will discover this incredible space way later, when he discovered the works of the British artist David Hockney.
With this assemblage of canvases, reminiscent of the hanging of the salon of the time, Rinus Van de Velde recreate his imaginary landscapes coming from his memories, his love for landscape, photography and filmography.
In the next rooms, dedicated to themes such as Myth, Machinery and Travel, the artist works are juxtaposed with works from Neo Rauch, Tacita Dean, René Magritte and Jean Tinguely.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Museum Voorlinden
Date: 11.2.2023 - 29.5.2023
Curator: Unknown
Ticket: Available on the website of the Museum Voorlinden OR at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Museum Voorlinden
Museum Voorlinden
Buurtweg 90
2244 AG Wassenaar
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0) 70 51 21 660
Mail: info@voorlinden.nl