Wouter Venema
Wouter Venema considers his works not as a succession of separate projects, but as one work that is slowly expanding, like a web. Whenever he starts a new series, Venema uses a networked way of working. He broadly researches a particular subject: he looks for stories, myths, theories, and speculations linked to a particular image or object in order to find unexpected connections. He searches for parallels and patterns, and tries to make sense of them on a cultural-historical and linguistic level. This often leads to room-filling installations, including paper works based on drawing and printing techniques, tile tableaus, glass works, and (modified) objects. In the past, he also made films and realised book projects, adding another (temporal) layer to these configurations.
Photo: Raymond van Mil
Photo: Raymond van Mil
Photo: Raymond van Mil
Conceptually and thematically, many of his series address the unstable barrier between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. He explores these notions in the context of themes such as loss and regeneration, navigation, folklore, and identity. More recently, he is most interested in solastalgia: a form of emotional or existential distress caused by negatively perceived environmental change – a type of homesickness you can feel while still at home.
Werk
Poacher’s Atlas VI (Chronic Rashes)
Scales
Bio
Wouter Venema (1985, Groningen, NL) is a visual artist living and working in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. After completing his MA at the Sandberg Institute, he was a resident at the Rijksakademie voor beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. His work has been exhibited widely. He had several solo exhibitions, including the exhibition Façade at P//////AKT in Amsterdam and Mouth of the Sky at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Alongside his practice, he works as a teacher for various academies in The Netherlands and Belgium.
