Wessel Verrijt

Wessel Verrijt (1992, Lierop NL) create sculptures, architectural vehicles, tactile mobiles and vibrant characters. They are both robust and fragile, as well as chaotic and orderly. They appear to be living entities and suggest a ritual or a procession that came to a halt. The sculptures come to life in performances. As such, Verrijt explores the idea of ‘living matter’, when body and matter merge and matter takes on human traits and emotions.

This is a way of intermingling the sculptures with the physical body, into so-called ‘hybrid entities’. Performers enter the sculptures and animate them slowly through the space, street or set. A synergy in which the body turns into matter and matter slowly takes on human behaviour. The movements of the sculptures and the arms and legs jutting out suggest that they are upset, shy, tired, clumsy or lost. They wander around aimlessly, forming a procession or attempting to carry out a ritual.

The sculptures are temporary by nature and are disassembled over time. The materials are reused and travel from sculpture to sculpture. Verrijt considers his work to be a large organism which is constantly in motion. It evolves, expands and slowly moves forward. The organism consists of materials that are collected along the way. Materials considered as forgotten and abandoned, driven by consumerism and industrialism they find themselves in the dead ends of our ecosystems. In his work they awake, as a rebellion against their short-planned life.

Verrijt aims to create his own archetypes by making sculptures that consist of materials from previous ones and constantly evolve. Over time, a pattern emerges that suggests its own meaning and symbolism. In this he combines the idea of itinerant assemblies such as processions and parades with a more ecological approach of living organisms that evolve and reproduce.

With generous support from Kunstloc Brabant

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2023/2024:

Residency EKWC 2023, Oisterwijk NL ^{(supported by Cultuur Eindhoven, Stichting Kunst & Cultuurbevordering Nederland, Stichting Stokroos)}

Biënnale H3H biënnale 2023, Oosterhout NL

Groups-exhibition CODA Museum 2023, Apeldoorn NL

Residency Kunsthuis-SYB, 2023, Beetsterzwaag NL

Performance EYE Museum, Opening Cinedans, Amsterdam NL

Biënnale Paltz Biënnale 2024, Soest NL

Biënnale Limburg Biennale, Marres 2024, Maastricht NL

2022:

Groups-exhibition Museum Jan Cunen, Oss NL