Galerie Caroline O’Breen, based in Amsterdam, aims at presenting current leading fine art from artists living in the Netherlands and abroad. We are committed to introducing significant photo-based mixed media works from artists who make use of the medium of photography and are looking for cross-overs with other art disciplines.
Of particular interest are artists who reflect on natural environmental topics. We are inspired by artists who enrich the scope with new modes of thinking and can broaden our perspective towards nature and the earth.
At Art Rotterdam 2021, we are presenting the work of 5 different artists, both photography and sculpture.
Jaya Pelupessy uses photography to investigate the medium’s status. In his latest project “Manufactured Manual'' he developed a technique involving multiple color exposures on a silkscreen-frame. Pelupessy is transforming this tool, normally used for numerous reproductions, into a singular work. He uses found footage gathered from photography manuals where photography is almost trying to explain itself. This project is aimed at making the constructions behind our visual consumption visible.
Satijn Panyigay makes photographic work that invites its viewer to slow down. In her latest large project, Panyigay is capturing the character of the empty exhibition spaces of leading Dutch museums that display contemporary art by photographing between the shows. 'Liminal Land, Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen' shows the brand new depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in its brief moment of emptiness just after completion. The raw and industrial inside, awaiting for its function to unfold. The series forms a diptych with 'Twilight Zone, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’ in which Panyigay photographed the museum itself, just after its closure, waiting for a large-scale renovation. The reverse story of ‘Liminal Land’, though both in states of tranquility.
Tanja Engelberts investigates the duality between the romantic landscape and its economic reality in today’s world. In her latest project, she returns to the North Sea. The harsh conditions at sea make the offshore industry almost the ultimate symbol (icon) of man overcoming nature. Artificial cities of concrete and metal in an apparently empty sea. They leave a lot to the imagination. In recent years companies have retracted their operations, the project investigates how to document a landscape that is demolished and no longer there.
Maura Biava is fascinated by the hidden laws of nature, and her work revolves around that. According to Biava, it is the entanglement in between information, matter and energy that shapes our reality. To make this visible in her work, Biava uses clay as matter, mathematics, numbers and analytic geometry as information and her actions and performances as energy. For her Magic Heptagrams, Biava translates cerebral mathematical and philosophical exploration into aesthetic and organic sculptures. Magic Heptagram is the name of the formula that gives cacti its distinctive shape. She used this formula to create her sculptures, and with this Biava wishes to emphasize the presence of the forming codes in our reality.
Antoinette Nausikaä works site-specifically, usually at places where nature and urbanism intertwine. 'Spring equinox figurines' were made in Amsterdam in 2021, with a 24 karat golden glaze. This series was created at the time of the last spring equinox on March 20th, 2021. While experiencing the lockdowns Antoinette Nausikaä got inspired by the continuous cycle of the sun and the transitions of the seasons throughout the year. These transitions are marked by the solstices and equinoxes. The spring equinox is a moment in the year when the sun is exactly above the equator and day and night are perfectly balanced in equal length. Throughout history, they have been celebrated with rituals and ceremonies. During these specific sacred moments, as a kind of ritual and a personal ode to the light, Nausikaä retreats into her studio with a lump of clay to make the sculptures.