14 Feb 2014

Solo show Joris Kuipers at new initiative Dapiran Art Project Space

Premiere of the first part of Joris Kuipers' installation 'Goodbye George, burn the ship come spring' in the new art initiative Dapiran Art Project Space


Joris Kuipers - Goodbye George, burn the ship come spring

15 February - 5 April 2014
Private View: Friday 21 February, 17.00 – 19.00


From 15th of February until the 5th of April Joris Kuipers shows the first part of his installation 'Goodbye George, burn the ship come spring' at Dapiran Art Project Space, the new art initiative in Utrecht.

The works of Joris Kuipers can be seen as a dynamic whole, in which successive work interact conceptually as well as visually. Some of the recurring existential themes in his work are human vulnerability and desire to escape; being and being absent. His oeuvre is based on his fascination for medical sources including the historical woodcuts from the famous anatomy book of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), CT and MRI scans and the plastinates by Gunther von Hagens (1945).

The sculpture series 'Goodbye George, burn the ship come spring' is inspired by the anatomical papier mâché models of Louis Auzoux (1797-1880). Similar to this French anatomist, Kuipers uses pulp, paper and cardboard. But unlike Auzoux, he does not work with press moulds, preferring to build his sculptures up from a hanging position. The apparent roughness proceeds from the paper layers that are placed with precise carelessness. This technique is inspired by Titian’s apparent effortless painting style called ‘Sprezzatura’.

Instead of the conventional materials like marble or bronze, Kuipers opted for a 'softer', more fragile material, to contrast with the topic. In the work presented at Dapiran Art Project Space, the focus is on the deconstruction of bodies. His vision about the human body is inspired by Tibetan Buddhist rituals, such as the ‘sky funerals’ where the body of a deceased person is cut up in pieces in order to set the soul free. Another source of inspiration is also the ‘Mo Chö’, the Tibetan secret art of cutting off everything that maintains attachment to the ego, by means of mindful imaging. The vulnerability of the hanging bodies in the installation are representing an egoless mental condition and independence through the absence of religion, skin colour, gender and sexual inclination.

Joris Kuipers (1977, Nijmegen, NL) completed his Master of Fine Arts at the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen in 2003. In recent years he received grants from the CBK Rotterdam and the Mondriaan Fund and he did a residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre in Den Bosch. He has had several solo exhibitions at het Plafond in Rotterdam, the former art gallery Jaap Sleper in Utrecht and at art fairs such as Art Amsterdam and Art Ghent. Later this year, the other two parts of the installation 'Goodbye George, burn the ship come spring' will be shown in other locations in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Dapiran Art Project Space is a new space for contemporary art, located in the historic city centre of Utrecht, founded by art historian Cathelijne Dapiran in November 2013. The space balances between a project space for artistic experiments and a traditional gallery for the promotion of young artists.