Rinke Nijburg researches the existential fate that befell man: the consciousness of being an animal that does its best not to be an animal. Man tries to overcome this misfortune, in order to become a god or an ‘Übermensch’. In order to better understand this fate, Nijburg is looking for a way back to the origin of man, which is said to lie in Africa. In the search for the deepest motives of man, he encounters the best and the worst of the vain mammal. Occasionally a human manages to rise above theirself and all others and metamorphoses into a holy son or daughter of the god or gods. Unfortunately, most specimens of the species fail to do so and the development of compassion remains rudimentary. Some specimens of homo sapiens sapiens fail completely to tame the predator in themselves and degenerate into children of hell. The mammal that poses for the camera and tries to show 'the best self' to the others is the starting point for much of the artist's recent work. Just like in everyday reality, it is not always immediately clear who managed to tame the beast and who did not. Nijburg received many prizes, including the Prix de Rome (1998). His work is represented in more than 30 collections in the Netherlands and abroad.
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In corporate collection:
ABN AMRO Art Collection
Aegon Art Collection
Rabobank
AkzoNobel
Delta Lloyd
Océ
Provincie Gelderland
AMC
Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken
Eneco
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