To mark the beginning of this new chapter, artist Dion Rosina has co-curated the exhibition, presenting his work alongside that of Nathan Joshua Bastien, Wendy Owusu and Matt Saunders. While their practices vary in style and even span different periods, the works are connected by the theme of sampling and fragmentation, both visual: through collage and assemblage, and conceptual: in their reflections on fractured identities and histories.
Dion Rosina (1991) is a Dutch Afro-Caribbean painter. His work often begins with collages made from a variety of images, which he manipulates and reassembles into his paintings, a working method heavily influenced by sampling which can be found in HipHop music. Rosina is interested in how different themes, ideas, and visuals can influence one another through the act of assembling, like life itself, where everything is interconnected and constantly shaped through interaction.
Rosina began his practice in 2020. Since then, his work has been exhibited at institutions including Museum MORE, museum Rembrandthuis, Drents Museum, and Museum Catharijneconvent, as well as Documenta Fifteen in Kassel. His work is on view At Buro Stedelijk in the exhibition #52 TO BE DETERMINED were artistic interventions are explored in the semi-public space. The exhibition runs until 23 October.
The working method of Nathan Joshua Bastien (1989) is similar to that of Rosina. By assembling different images he uses painting to generate new meanings, which are largely shaped by the viewer’s interpretation. He finds inspiration in a multicultural identity, street and counterculture, as well as in the design and representation of the world of children and educational programs with socio-cultural integration emerging as an overarching motif.
Bastien graduated in 2023 at the LUCA School of Arts (Gent) with a masters in painting.
Wendy Owusu (1994) work centres on identity, enabling her to conduct anthropological research to delve into her cultural heritage. She also examines the preservation of traditions and their modern adaptations. Her findings are shared with audiences through editions, videos, and installations, blending documentary imagery with photography. Additionally, she investigates themes of group and urban transition, utilizing textiles and clothing as narrative tools.
Owusu graduated with honours from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2021 and is currently a resident at Artagon Pantin (Paris). Her work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2022 - 2023), Vancouver Art Gallery (2023), and CODA Museum (2023). She has collaborated with institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, and Fondation Cartier.
In From Abena to Gloria – Suburban Area (2021), Wendy Owusu reimagines anecdotes from her family home, incorporating its spaces and shapes into patterns. Abena and Gloria are both names of the artist’s mother, used here as a metaphor to reflect Wendy Owusu’s cultural heritage. This first series draws inspiration from her childhood home in Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Growing up, she witnessed how people expressed their cultural identity through clothing, so it felt only natural for her to use garments as a form of intimate documentation. Each piece is unique, entirely created and conceived by the artist.
In Sans titre, Owusu explores similar themes, but this time from a place that no longer exists. The piece is part of a new chapter entitled Trois Allée Renoir, named after the address of her first family home: a "barre HLM" in the Rougemont social housing estate in Sevran. Demolished in 2008, this site lives on through her collection of old photographs and personal memories, which she transforms into new visual narratives. Using a knitting machine, she produces a two-tone image in beige and brown. The brown recalls the skin tones of the subjects, while the contrast between the two colours evokes a sepia effect, reminiscent of old photographs.
"I seek to transmit these images, but also to question the very methods of transmission. This place is deeply tied to my childhood and personal history. It is therefore important for me to establish my own tools of transmission and representation. In doing so, I explore the dynamics of memory and identity." -Wendy Owusu
The work Hertha Thiele #1 made by Matt Saunders (1975) connects painting, photography and printmaking to the moving image and heavily referencing film and the history of cinema. The work shows the German actress Hertha Thiele, best known for her silent films of the early 1930s, whose painted portrait is cut out and mounted again onto a once-blank canvas.
Matt Saunders studied at Harvard, Cambridge and at Yale University, where he was trained as a painter. He has exhibited his work internationally at institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2020), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016), the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2013). His work is in the collections of major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Credits:
Jonathan de Waart