22 august 2023, Flor Linckens
An artistic and intergenerational dialogue in ROOF-A
Until 30 September, ROOF-A in Rotterdam presents a special summer salon in which the works of two artists are highlighted: Juliette Minchin and Maria Roosen. These artists have different backgrounds, they represent a different generation and each choose their own approach to material and form. Thematically there is some overlap: in their work, both artists delve deeper into universal opposites such as strength and vulnerability, physicality and sensuality, and life and death. The salon embodies two main objectives of ROOF-A, to highlight the work of women artists — including the organisation of a biennial art prize for women artists — while also facilitating an intergenerational dialogue.
Dutch artist Maria Roosen is internationally known for her emotionally charged glass creations, which are included in the collections of various institutions and museums, including Museum Voorlinden, Museum Arnhem, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. These works vary from intimate pieces to monumental installations such as her 'bunch of breasts' in the garden of Museum Arnhem. The artist uses blown glass in a unique way and her works exude a powerful sensuality, while at the same time suggesting fragility. In addition to glass, the artist also works with watercolour and materials such as wood, gold and wool. In her practice, Roosen plays with themes such as strength, vulnerability, sensuality, growth, love and death. In 1995, she represented the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale, in a presentation with Marlene Dumas and Marijke van Warmerdam.
Roosen's work is presented alongside the work of the younger artist Juliette Minchin. The French artist uses materials such as plaster, earth and wax, as well as light, scent and light. It imbues her somewhat ambiguous works with an organic and tactile appearance that is reminiscent of human skin. Her practice includes sculptures, installations, videos and drawings, in which she addresses themes such as time, disappearance and transformation. The environments she creates can be seen as ritual places and her works invite the viewer to introspection. The artist combines her background in scenography with her artistic work, which has been shown at Biennale BIS (in the famous artists' village of Saint-Paul de Vence), the HOOP Biennale in Oosterhout and in the Melting Chamber in Selfridges in London, among others.
The exhibition in ROOF-A serves as a prelude to a larger group exhibition in the spring of 2024, which will focus on the theme of fertility. In addition to Roosen and Minchin, works by the Greek artist Kalliopi Lemos will also be on display here, whose public work — a six-metre-tall braid — has become a well-known landmark on the Westersingel in Rotterdam.
