21 march 2023, Flor Linckens
Destruction and beauty in the work of Raquel Maulwurf
Until 8 April, Livingstone Gallery in The Hague presents a solo exhibition by Raquel Maulwurf. The Spanish-Dutch artist is fascinated by the almost unimaginable destructiveness of humanity, for example through war and ecological destruction.
Maulwurf's works are marked by a recurring paradox: destruction and chaos on the one hand and the beauty of that destruction on the other. Maulwurf applies charcoal and pastel to often large-scale museum cardboard and in some cases, she works with woodcuts. By omitting colour, she adds to the drama and impact of her images. In her work, the artist manages to capture something essential and monumental. As a viewer you ask yourself: why are people so eager to destroy things?
Broadly speaking, Maulwurf's work consists of two series: works that focus on war and works that deal with nature. Her works therefore look both backward and forward. For example, she visualised various historical war events and bombings — in works with titles like "Night raid on Tokyo 9 III '45, 2021" — but she considers some works as a harbinger of the future. Maulwurf's practice is based on extensive research in archives and conversations with survivors from war zones. In her works, she also tries to capture that particular layer.
Her work is also extremely relevant in the context of global warming, especially now that the most recent UN report, that thousands of climate scientists contributed to, shows that the consequences of climate change will be much greater than initially expected. Maulwurf visualises how humanity affects nature, but also how nature reacts to it, for example in terms of natural disasters. In this sense, her work can be compared to that of the Romantic artists, who also depicted the sublime and overwhelming power of nature. Sometimes this destruction can be seen quite literally in Maulwurf's work, for example when she attacks her works with sharp objects such as a Stanley knife.
Maulwurf studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Arnhem (currently part of the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts), followed by a course in multimedia at the SAE International Technology College in Amsterdam. Her work has been shown at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, the Centraal Museum, the Fries Museum, Singer Laren, Museum MORE, Museum Arnhem, Teylers Museum and Museum de Fundatie, among others. In June, her work will be shown at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin as part of the 'Biennale Le Latitudini dell'Arte - Germany and Italy'. Her work has been collected by, among others, the Rijkmuseum, Museum Voorlinden, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Bonnefanten Museum, the Prefectural Art Museum Nagasaki, De Nederlandsche Bank and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
