Mariken Wessels (b. 1963, the Netherlands) creates artist’s books, photo series, film works, sculptures, and installations.
Her multilayered projects lean on appropriated imagery and self-produced images to reimagine existing narratives as well as construct new ones. Wessels’ work resonates and fluctuates within both public and private spheres, at times in explicit ways. In Elisabeth – I want to eat, Wessels uses a found a collection of photographs, letters and postcards belonging to an unnamed woman to construct her own interpretation of the woman’s enigmatic narrative, revealing tantilising questions and hinting at answers that are impossible to prove. In Wessels’ most recent work, however, Nude – Arising from the Ground, a series of Eadweard Muybridge collotypes acts as the historical catalyst for Wessels’ distinctly contemporary ceramic sculptures that explore the motion of obese bodies and the animalistic aspects of the human form.
Prior to her visual practice, Wessels studied acting at the Amsterdam Theatre School, and after a decade-long acting career she went on to study visual arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Wessels’ work has been widely exhibited and has held solo exhibitions at the Fotomuseum Antwerp (2016) and Fotomuseum Den Haag (2017). Wessels has published numerous books, most notably with Taking Off. Henry my Neighbor, published in 2015 with Art Paper Editions to international acclaim. The book was awarded an honorary appreciation at the Leipzig Book Fair (Best Book Design from all over the World, 2016), won the Author Book Award at Les Rencontres d’Arles (2016) and was included in the selection for Best Book Designs from the Netherlands and Flanders (2015). Wessels’ latest book, Miss Cox (Nude – Arising from the Ground), will be published by Fw:Books in 2020.
Wessels’ works and books have been collected by museums, libraries and private collectors worldwide including; Centre Pompidou (Paris), ICP and MoMA (New York), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Munich), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Fotomuseum Antwerp (Belgium), and the Verbeke Foundation (Belgium).
DMW Gallery | 'Models – of a different kind'
Mariken Wessels14 Sep - 28 Oct 2023The series Mama and The Sculptor and the standalone sculpture The Chosen One continue the artist’s quest for the physicality of the body. The sculptures and collages touch upon the...Read more'Fruits of Labor'
Ruth van Beek & Mariken Wessels11 Mar - 22 Apr 2023The Ravestijn Gallery is proud to bring together new work by Dutch artists Ruth van Beek and Mariken Wessels. In this exhibition, their two distinct visions are brought into dialogue....Read more'One of a Kind'
A 10-year anniversary show with unique pieces3 Sep - 22 Oct 2022When, in 2012, Narda van 't Veer and Jasper Bode founded The Ravestijn Gallery, they were amongst the few galleries in the Netherlands who felt photography was more than simply...Read moreFOMU | 'RE-COLLECT'
Mariken Wessels7 May - 7 Nov 2021Vincent Delbrouck, Bieke Depoorter, Boris Mikhailov, Max Pinckers, Mariken Wessels, Annemie Augustijns, David Claerbout, Jacques de Lalaing, Kimbei Kusakabe, Zanele Muholi, Dirk Braeckman … Het zijn maar enkele van de...Read moreKeramiekmuseum Princessehof | Mariken Wessels
Groupshow with William Cobbing, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Leiko Ikemura, Klara Kristalova, Kris Lemsalu, Sharon van Overmeiren, Liliana Porter, Geng Xue and Mariken Wessels10 Oct 2020 - 5 Sep 2021The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics in Leeuwarden will present the wide-ranging exhibition Human After All: Ceramic Reflections in Contemporary Art from 10 October 2020 to 5 September 2021. Internationally...Read moreSummershow 2020: 'The Salon Show'
in collaboration with Ingeborg Ravestijn Antiques and The Wunderkammer13 Jun - 22 Aug 2020The Ravestijn Gallery is pleased to announce The Salon Show, created in collaboration with Ingeborg Ravestijn Antiques and The Wunderkammer. The exhibition will show over 80 works from (all) represented...Read more'NUDE - Arising from the ground'
Mariken Wessels14 Mar - 30 May 2020The exhibition Nude - Arising From The Ground by Mariken Wessels was her first solo exhibition at The Ravestijn Gallery. A new book, designed by Hans Gremmen, entitled Miss Cox...Read moreFOMU | Mariken Wessels
TAKING OFF. HENRY MY NEIGHBOR4 Mar - 5 Jun 2016Replete with the sexual frustrations and voyeurism that characterised the relationship, the exhibition introduces us to Henry’s obsessions with photography. His wife, Martha, has lived under his yoke for years,...Read moreFotomuseum Rotterdam | 'Quickscan #2'
Jan Rosseel23 Jan - 18 May 2016What is happening in photography in the Netherlands? Where does the renewal take place and what does it look like? For this exhibition, fifteen to twenty photographers working in the...Read more
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The Sculptor X, 2023
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The Sculptor I, 2023
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The Sculptor II, 2023
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The Sculptor VI, 2023
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The Sculptor VII & VIII (diptych), 2023
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Mama, 2022
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Mama I, 2022
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Mama II, 2022
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The Chosen One, 2022
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Model-Stop-Motion I, 2018
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Floating Nude in Silence, 2020
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Nude Upside Down and Back Again VI, 2018
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Arising from the Ground - Model Cox II, 2018
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Femina Ludens I, 2017-2020
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Femina Ludens XI, 2017-2020
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RIP Bended good II, 2015
Art Rotterdam 2023
Ruth van Beek, Mariken Wessels9 - 12 Feb 2023“Everything in the world began with a yes. One molecule said yes to another molecule and life was born.” - Clarice Lispector, The Hour of...Read moreArt Rotterdam 2019
Solo Presentation Mariken Wessels7 - 10 Feb 2019Mariken Wessels’ new project — comprising sculpture, photography and film — focuses on the obese body in motion and the animalistic aspects of the human...Read more
'Fruits of Labor'
by Ruth van Beek & Mariken Wessels Read more'Queen Ann. P.S. Belly Cut Off'
by Mariken Wessels Mariken Wessels, 2010Softcover, 75 pagesRead more
Publisher: Alauda Publications
Dimensions: 24 cm x 33 cm'Taking off. Henry My Neighbour'
by Mariken Wessels Mariken Wessels, 2017Softcover, 330 pagesRead more
Publisher: APE
ISBN: 9789490800345
Dimensions: 33 x 24,2 x 2,6 cm'Miss Cox'
by Mariken Wessels Softcover / First editionSoftcover, 64 pagesRead more
Publisher: Fw:Books
Dimensions: 23 x 29 cm'Elisabeth - I Want To Eat'
by Mariken Wessels Mariken Wessels, 2008Softcover, 80 pagesRead more
Publisher: Alauda Publications
Dimensions: 24 cm x 33 cm
Fruits of Labor: Een dubbelinterview met Mariken Wessels en Ruth van Beek
Wouter van den Eijkel , GalleryViewer Magazine, March 9, 2023Opinion on: Taking Off. Henry My Neighbor
Marc Lenot, ArteCapital Magazine, April 29, 2022Taking Off. Henry My Neighbor
Apollon, Apollon Magazine, April 4, 2022Taking Off. Henry My Neighbor
Red Glasses, Le Monde, January 21, 2022Trouw
November 21, 2020Nu te zien / AVRO Tros
November 13, 2020Collector Daily
July 29, 2020Nearest Truth
July 12, 2020Gallery Viewer
April 16, 2020The Eye Of Photography
March 31, 2020Metal Magazine
March 30, 2020Camera Austria
December 19, 2019FAD Magazine
February 9, 2019Gallery Viewer
February 8, 2019ICP
January 26, 2018Aperture
October 26, 2016New Dawn Paper
October 26, 2015Mariken Wessels vertelt over Taking Off, Henry my neighbor | deel 2
We Like Art, July 3, 2015Mariken Wessels vertelt over Taking Off, Henry my neighbor | deel 1
We Like Art, July 3, 2015