08 september 2026, Flor Linckens
The elasticity of space: Michiel Kluiters and André Kruysen in Galerie Wilms
Until 17 October, Galerie Wilms presents a duo exhibition featuring two artists who approach space in different ways. At first glance, the artistic practices of Michiel Kluiters and André Kruysen may seem fairly far removed from one another: Kruysen creates sculptures that physically occupy space, while Kluiters makes monumental photographs of non-existent spaces, which he first constructs in his studio as improvised scale models. Yet the artists pose similar questions and share a fascination with space as a more fluid concept. As a construct that is never fixed, but changes in real time, shaped by the ways in which we look, experience a space and physically relate to it. In the end, which elements determine how we experience a space? The architecture itself, the materials from which something is made, the light that enters and the shadows it creates, scale and perspective, or primarily our own gaze?
André Kruysen’s mysterious, complex and irregular sculptures emerge from an ongoing investigation into the interplay between architecture, light and space. The resulting works are dynamic and relational, responding to both the spaces in which they are shown and the contexts in which they were made. For some of his sculptures, Kruysen uses resin casts of everyday objects, among other materials. He makes little use of colour, instead directing attention towards form, surface and texture. In doing so, the artist seems to be searching for a deliberate moment of deceleration and balance, at a time when our lives are becoming increasingly fast-paced and chaotic.
Kruysen was born in The Hague in 1967. He studied sculpture at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, where he has also taught since 2010. He completed a residency at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and also took part in a working period at the EKWC. His work is held in the collections of Kunstmuseum Den Haag, the Bonnefantenmuseum, Museum Beelden aan Zee and Museum De Fundatie and can also be encountered in the public space. In 1998, he received the Charlotte van Pallandt Prize, followed by the Ouborg Prize in 2011.
Michiel Kluiters builds physical constructions that disappear from view when the artist turns them into a two-dimensional representation on a monumental scale. In his studio, Kluiters creates improvised architectural scale models. He responds intuitively to anything that happens during that process, while waiting patiently for that precise moment when light, perspective and material come together in just the right way. He subsequently photographs the model in great detail and enlarges the image, distilling it into a carefully composed photographic work. The result occupies a space somewhere between photography, painting and sculpture. The empty spaces in these images often depict liminal spaces, occasionally with impossible doorways. These spaces remain elusive because we can only enter them with our gaze, leaving room for the viewer’s own projections. At the same time, the true dimensions of what we are looking at are not always clear. And where Kruysen deliberately makes little use of colour, it often plays a striking role in the practice of Kluiters.
Kluiters was born in Amsterdam in 1971. He studied at the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU), the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and De Ateliers. His work was previously shown at Museum de Fundatie, Museum Kranenburgh, the Fries Museum, NEST, Marres, P/////AKT and Arti et Amicitiae, as well as at various locations in the public space.
