Double. Painting, drawings, prints and photography. Van Riessen's self portraits - paintings and screen prints - are typified by black contours and vivid colours which lends them a vivid, graphic appearance. His pencil drawings exhibit a more expressive line.
Double. Painting, drawings, prints and photography
Museum Het Domein will be hosting the exhibition Double by Dutch artist Wouter Van
Riessen (1967 Bloemendaal). The title Double refers to Van Riessen’s practice of
frequently portraying himself in the company of dolls, or layering meaning into his
self portraits by other means. Van Riessen’s self portraits - paintings and screen
prints - are typified by black contours and vivid colours which lends them a vivid,
graphic appearance. His pencil drawings exhibit a more expressive line.
The oeuvre of Wouter van Riessen is constructed around images of the artist himself.
Highly stylised, these self portraits both deconstruct and reduce the subject, with
which the artist objectifies his own portrait and investigates ideas of
identification and subjectivity. Van Riessen exposes his work to the projected
memories and associations of the viewer, eliciting the human longing for
interaction.
As Van Riessen’s oeuvre progressed, mirrorings and duplications started to appear.
The artist introduced dolls to investigate the phenomenon of projection – is a
drawing of a doll any different to a drawing of a human being? The artist gradually
developed an increasing interest in the visual reflection of layered emotions, using
dolls to articulate internal conflict.
Van Riessen studied at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Arnhem and at the
Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. His work is represented in
various museum collections and he has exhibited his work widely both in the
Netherlands and internationally.
To mark the exhibition, Roma publications are publishing the book Full Grown Man
with an essay by Lene ter Haar, curator at Het Domein. Wouter Van Riessen will also
be making a new mural in the T-zone at Het Domein. Also a musician/songwriter, Van
Riessen has explores the themes addressed in his visual work in songs, and will be
giving a live performance in T-Time on Sunday 22 April.
At the same time:
Retrospective, Jacques Dieteren: paintings
Le sacre Du Printemps, Jasper de Beijer, photography
Image: Wouter van Riessen, Selfportrait (1967)
Opening Friday March 23, 2007, 17.00h
The T-time (discussion session) on the occasion of the Wouter van Riessen exhibition
will be held on Sunday April 22, 2007 . 12.30 am – 2.00 pm, live music by Wouter
van Riessen.
Museum Het Domein Sittard
Kapittelstraat 6 - Sittard
Tuesday – Sunday 11.00 am – 5.00 pm