C&H gallery is proud to present ‘Don’t Frighten The Horses’, a solo exhibition of new work by Wouter Klein Velderman.
In DON’T FRIGHTEN THE HORSES, Klein Velderman responds to the work ‘NEDERLAND- SCHE VOGELEN’ by Cornelius Nozeman and Christiaan Sepp. ‘Nederlandsche vogelen’ is a guide to Dutch birds, that was published in five volumes between 1770 and 1829. Klein Velderman gained permission to see the copy that is part of the Artis library in Amsterdam.
Klein Velderman regards the illustrations by Christiaan Sepp as interpretations of the birds of his time. By re-transforming them, this time to a new material: Melted PVC fabric on wooden panel, Klein Velderman does not only want to bring them to the present, but also gives them a new layer of meaning.
DON’T FRIGHTEN THE HORSES is a series of collages/ assemblages on which the birds do not care about the speed and madness that characterizes the time in which we live. The serene creature seems to be looking undisturbed at the 21st century and to say: DON’T FRIGHTEN THE HORSES.
WOUTER KLEIN VELDERMAN (Deventer, 1979) obtained his MFA in 2009 at the Sandberg Institute, Fine Arts department, after studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, where he is currently teaching sculpture. Within his professional practice, Klein Velderman has his sculptures accompanied by dance, architecture, performance, dialogue (Socratic dialogue, Benedictine dialogue, Lecture of Things), a lecture or written text. Teaching at art academies (Rietveld Academie, ArtEZ, Academy of Theater and Dance) and giving workshops to people who are a bit further away from the art world also contributes to the creation of his sculptures within the artistic research. Allowing third parties within the thinking and making process that precedes each sculpture, regards Klein Velderman as a logical step in both his own creative process and within the social cultural landscape. In addition, ‘collaboration’ is a way to continue his working as a sculptor – the dialogue between himself and his material – in looking, listening, and acting in other disciplines.
Wouter Klein Velderman lives and works in Amsterdam. His work has been exhibited in The Netherlands and abroad, among Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NL), Spazioborgogno, Milaan (IT), Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen (NL), Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam (NL), Moengo Visual Arts Festival, Moengo (SU), De Vleeshal, Middelburg (NL), Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag (NL), Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato (IT).
