Mirjam Vreeswijk

Mirjam Vreeswijk's (Gorinchem, NL, 1997) paintings explore the convergence of divergent realities produced in a space between mirror and mask, between revealing and hiding the subject. In doing so, she seeks to draw attention to the different layers of consciousness rippling through the painting’s surface and its subject. Narrative and continuity become illusory in this hybrid space, as each work contains new perspectives that combine opposites and defy easy coherency.

The work originates from collages of objects or images that appeal to her in one way or another. For example, shiny ribbons, designer shoes and pictures from books on decorative works from the 70s. From this archive of materials, she intuitively builds compositions, first in models, then on canvas. Step by step, Mirjam looks at what the image needs in order to eventually arrive at the perfect composition and perfect structures of paint.

This intuitive or subconscious approach gives the paintings a surrealistic feel that touches on elements of product photography, still life and landscape painting. In her latest series the fairy-tale world makes its entrance. This can be seen in ritual objects and in the approach to landscapes that some of the paintings provide a glimpse of.

After graduating in 2018 from the HKU Bachelor of Fine Art, Mirjam Vreeswijk was nominated for several awards such as the Buning Brongers Prize and the Kunst aan de dijk Prize, she won the Best of Graduates Ron Mandos Public Prize that year. She then followed the Master Fine Art at the Frank Mohr Institute. In 2019, she was named Art Talent of the Year by Stichting Kunstweek and in 2022 Vreeswijk won De Kunstliefde Award. Her works has been supported by the Mondrian Fund and the Amarte Fund. She has exhibited in several galleries in the Netherlands, Italy, United States, Hong Koxng and South Korea. Her work is represented in several corporate collections. Since 2021 she has been represented by Galerie Fleur & Wouter, and since 2024 by Plan X Gallery, Milan.

Art Island | 2024 | IJmuiden

During Art Island 2024, Galerie Fleur & Wouter will present a solo presentation by Mirjam Vreeswijk. The exhibition will take place on the Fort Island in IJmuiden. For this special setting, the artist is creating a new series of paintings. By presenting works in unusual ways, for example hanging from the ceiling, the special architecture of the fortress is accentuated.

Practical information and tickets: https://www.art-island.nl

Art Rotterdam 2024 | February 2024 | Rotterdam

The Curtain Rises | September - October 2023 | The Gallery

The paintings in this exhibition show the field of tension characteristic of Mirjam Vreeswijk (Gorinchem, NL, 1997). Her work is beautiful and repulsive, dark and cheerful, grand and decorative at the same time. Intangible structures of natural phenomena such as waterfalls, lakes, lava flows and explosions are made tangible and decorative by being shaped like roses or held together by a bow. Vreeswijk creates an atmosphere that is at once melancholic, uncanny, eerie, wondrous and lovely.