MISFIT LOVE (Mystics & Obssesions) at Galerie Gabriel Rolt

Artists: Daniëlle Van Ark, Paulien Barbas, Ruta Butkute, Shezad Dawood, Maurice Van Es, Ingmar König, Arno Nollen

Exhibition title: MISFIT LOVE (Mystics & Obssesions)

Venue: Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Date: February 21 – March 11, 2015

Photography: Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Gabriel Rolt

Would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?

– Kanye West

Daniëlle van Ark (1974, Holland) takes her inspiration from the visual languages of different (sub)cultures. Social-status, appearance, mortality and the lapsing of time, mortality as the inescapable shadow of status, fame and glamour are recurring themes in Van Ark´s work. Van Ark concluded her residency at the Rijksakademie in 2013. Her work has been shown in FOAM, Amsterdam; Les Recontres d’Arles, Arles; GEM, The

Hague; Museum van Loon, Amsterdam; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; Daegue photobiennial, Korea; Nederlands Fotografie Museum, Rotterdam; Host Gallery, London; Museum of the City of New York, USA. Her work is included in the Caldic Collection, collection of De Nederlandsche Bank, AMC, FOAM, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Museum van Loon.

Paulien Barbas (1981, The Netherlands) retains moments of observation, dissolving the distinction between failure and coincidence to generate in-betweens. Repetition and rehearsal interchange as in a process of creation, but it is repetition itself that Barbas focuses on. Barbas concluded her period at the Rijksakademie in 2014. She has exhibited in Flattime House, London; Lewis Gluckman Gallery, Cork, Ireland; Voorkamer, Lier, Belgium; Schaffhausen, Switserland; Tallinn, Estonia. Barbas will be working at the EKWC, European Ceramic Workcentre in the summer of 2015.

Ruta Butkute’s (1984, Lithuania) installation invites viewers to relate to objects in a new and different way, as in a new order. Some of the sculptures are ceramic forms devoid of any use or reference. They have been combined with ready-mades that have been transformed and stripped of meaning using the most minimal modifications possible. Butkute studied at Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, and hold residencies at Lower Manhatten Cultural House, NY; BijlmAir, Amsterdam; CRIDA, Palma de Mallorco and currently is resident at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam. She has exhibited at the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; JCE Biennial 2013/2014; De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam.

Shezad Dawood (1974, London) was trained at Central St Martin’s and the Royal

College of Art before undertaking a PhD at Leeds Metropolitan University. Dawood works across film, painting and sculpture to juxtapose discrete systems of image, language, site and multiple narratives, using the editing process as a method to explore meanings and forms between film and painting. Dawood’s work has been exhibited internationally, including Taipei Biennial (2014), Marrakech Biennial (2014) MACBA Barcelona (2014), MoMA PS1 (2014), Witte de With (2013), Modern Art Oxford (2012),

Busan Biennale (2010), Tate Britain (2009), and the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009). His further extensive exhibitions include interventions in cities such as Tangiers, Mumbai, Karachi, Hamburg, and Singapore. Recent projects include feature film Piercing Brightness (2013), a solo exhibition at Parasol Unit, London, Leeds Art Gallery (2014) and at OCAT Xi’an, China (2014). Dawood is a Jarman Award nominee (2012) and one of the winners of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize (2011). He currently is a Research Fellow in Experimental Media at the University of Westminster. Dawood’s work is included in the collections of LACMA, Los Angeles; The British Museum, London; National Gallery of Canada; UBS; Abraaj Capital Art; Devi Art Foundation; Harris Museum, Preston and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Maurice van Es (1984, Holland) uses photography to describe his relationships towards the people and objects that surround him. His work comes from living his life. Van Es graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in 2013 and has showed his work at Les Recontres, Arles; Three Shadows, Bejijng; centquatre, Paris; Salone di Mobile, Milan; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Austin Centre of Photography, Austin, USA; Signal Gallery, New York; Group 101, London a.o. He has been awarded the Dusseldorf Photo Award, ARTE, Dusseldorf; ING New Photography Talent Public Award and named Ones to Watch 2015 in the British Journal of Photography. His work is included in the collection of ING among several international private collections.

Ingmar König’s (1988, Germany) installations often appear as visual and textural terrains where the viewer is challenged to navigate through and subsequently discover intricate details about the pieces in the room, forming a pseudo-narrative. König’s works have one foot in the realm of the viewer with its recognisable objects and have the other foot in the realm of absurdity and discovery. He carefully experiments with an object in order to dissect it and isolate certain qualities of it, yet discarding other qualities. König presented his work at among others Unfair, Amsterdam; P///KT, Amsterdam; NEST, The Hague; HMK, Hoorn; Chongqing Air, China and Kunstpodium T, Tilburg.

Arno Nollen’s (1964, Holland) work is often characterised by his up-and-close style, working in the comfort zone of his models, through which he evokes a directness not often seen in photography. His mix of obsessiveness and eroticism creates attractive and confronting images.

His work has been shown at Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, Armory Show, New York, Institut Neerlandais, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp; Jan Mot, Brussels; Copenhagen Kunsthalle, Denmark; Kunsthal, Rotterdam; De Hallen, Haarlem; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; De Appel, Amsterdam; Museum het Domein, Sittard Darjon Museum of Art, Daejon, Korea; Foto Museum, Rotterdam; Arti et Amicitiae among others.

Misfit Love - Galerie Gabriel Rolt (2)