'NUDE - Arising from the ground': Mariken Wessels

The 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 (Nude - Arising from the Ground) was launched during the opening. 

Comprising of sculpture, photography and film, and inspired by a series of Eadweard Muybridge collotypes, Wessels’ most recent work explores the motion of obese bodies and the animalistic aspects of the human form. Nude - Arising From The Ground was partly premiered at Art Rotterdam 2019, but this exhibition aims to give time and space for the entire work to be seen. 

In autumn 2020, the project will be part of a group show entitled Human After All: Ceramic Reflections in Contemporary Art at Museum Princessehof in Leeuwarden. Other participating artists are Geng Xue, William Cobbing, Klara Kristalova, Kris Lemsalu, Leiko Ikemura, Liliana Porter, Sharon Overmeieren, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg. Curated by Tanya Rumpff. 

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).