education

1999 – 2003 Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam

exhibitions

since 2003

awards

2010 Absolute Vodka Talent Award, Amsterdam, NL
2003 Marzee Graduate prize, Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, NL
2002 Design prijs, Textiel Museum, Tilburg, NL

public collections

Auckland Museum, Auckland, NZ
MAD, New York, US
CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, NL
Fonds national d’art contemporain (FNAC), Paris, FR
Art collection AkzoNobel, NL
Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, NL
National Museum for Achitecture and Design, Oslo, NO
De Nederlandse Bank kunstcollectie, Amsterdam, NL

about the work

fable-like
My ambition is to daydream, where are the thresholds of fantasy? Each truth is being colored through fantasy. I try to tell stories with my sculptures. And there is always a ambiguous emotion present: sad and beautiful at the same time. I use animals as human characters, the same as the characters of a fable or fairytale. My sculptures are made out of real animals combined with other materials like glass, silver, textiles and embroidery. The work is often multidisciplinary but always covers one theme or storyline. The relation between reality and fantasy is a question that I work with.
Stories, fairy tales, myths and fables, give us guidance for life. They can connect different cultures, and provide context. A framework reference in which differences can be bridged by shared stories. I write modern fables with my sculptures. Animals act as protagonist, as human characters. The materials, in combination with the animal, often portray an emotion or situation. For example: glass, it is transparent fragile, blown in the form of a rib cage stands for the fragility of life. The viewer and the space finish the story and create the context. The images are a frozen moment in the story.
The main theme is the fear of loss and destruction of nature, and therefore ourselves. And the marketing of everything, even the sun, for profits.
afke golsteijn