Wessel Verrijt (1992) builds sculptures, architectural vehicles and vibrant characters that play the leading role as ‘’entities’’ within his performances and films. In this, the sculptures come together as props, costumes, sets and protagonists to form a immersive installation in which they are catalysts for action.
Performers enter the sculptures and let them move slowly and organically through the space. They look proud, but can only go in circles or almost fall over. The movements, and the arms and legs that stick out, suggest human traits and emotion. They are angry, in love, shy, tired, clumsy or lost; they walk around endlessly or try to move simultaneously in an attempt to perform some sort of ritual together. It is a play of rapprochement and seeking contact, between matter & human, between the performers, sculptures and the audience.
In practice though, the origins of Verrijts works are based in materials. The collected pieces of wood, textiles, satellite dishes and cardboard amongst others are being assembled by Verrijt into new forms and shapes that carry the history of lived time. He utilises found objects because of these qualities, besides theirother properties like color, shape or skin.The sculptures are temporary by nature, and form together an amalgamous whole, an organism where materials travel from sculpture to sculpture and move organically from place to place.
Wessel Verrijt 