17 october 2023, Flor Linckens
Driessens & van den Baar: Provoking Reflection
Until 7 January 2024, Gallery Untitled in Rotterdam is presenting a solo exhibition by Driessens & van den Baar. The artistic duo, comprised of Nicole Driessens and Ivo van den Baar, has been collaborating since 1999 on a socially engaged practice that is distinguished by the use of textiles.
In the work of Driessens & van den Baar, materials and their technical possibilities play a significant role. The duo predominantly employs wool felt, a material that not only provides literal protection against cold, heat, water, and fire but also possesses the unique ability to vividly and richly display colour. Epoxy resin is another recurring element. In their practice, the artists navigate the boundary between art and design, bridging the realms of two and three-dimensionality.
Beyond materials, the underlying message holds great importance in understanding the work of this artistic duo. Driessens & van den Baar aspire to entice us with their expert craftsmanship and cheerful colours, subsequently involving us in a current societal issue.
Driessens & van den Baar: “Our lives are in total connection with each other, with our work, with the city of Rotterdam and with developments in the world. Art is the profession in which we investigate and propagate this. Since 2009, migration, the movement of people around the world in search of a place to build their livelihood, has been the recurring theme in our work. As visual artists, we develop images with a vision of current events, as they can be felt in our immediate environment. Our mission is to seduce with the beauty of the images, then to reveal a deeper message that provokes doubt and prompts reconsideration.”
Often, the city of Rotterdam, their immediate environment, takes center stage in their work. Previous works have delved into themes of migration and belonging, symbolically portrayed through houseplants expressing the intent to stay somewhere for a longer amount of time, or through belongings and discarded items that bear the traces of people departing, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, in search of a better life. In 2022, they presented their installation "No One is Illegal" at S.M.A.K. in Ghent.
In the exhibition 'Collateral Damage' at Gallery Untitled, Driessens & van den Baar present thirty new works that are the result from a year of research into the protective, threatening, and threatened impact of nature. From the perils of raging seas, wildfires, and the relentless desert to vulnerable coral being rapidly destroyed by human actions. At times, the works reference famous pieces from art history, such as Théodore Géricault's iconic "The Raft of the Medusa," hung at the Louvre in Paris. It displays the infamous shipwreck of 1816 that only 9 out of 149 passengers survived. In Driessens & van den Baar's work, these artworks are juxtaposed in a kind of visual rhyme alongside a devastated landscape.
Nicole Driessens completed her education at the (current) Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts, while Ivo van den Baar studied at the (present-day) St. Joost School of Art & Design in Den Bosch. Their work has been exhibited in institutions including the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, the Kunsthal, and the Centraal Museum. They have also collaborated with notable clients including KLM, Nationale Nederlanden, Vitra, Max Mara, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Rotterdam District Court, ING, and Triodos Bank.
