Untitled Circle Brass
Germaine Kruip
‘It became a journey of finding the exact angle and distance, which lamp, what kind of light, and so on. (...). A phenomenon like this is owned by everybody; it’s not mine, but my role as an artist brings a kind of freshness to this way of working or observing, where I can say “look at this, look what happens”.’ - Germaine Kruip
A light source transforms a polished brass ellipse on the ground into a perfect circle on the wall. Untitled Circle Brass originated in a snapshot in the studio - a moment of serendipity. The desire to recreate that wondrous moment and share it with others lies at the heart of the installation. The work is authoritative of Kruip's practice characterized by a fascination with time, light, repetition and geometry. In this exhibition, it provides a moment of reflection, a resting point.
2023 - Mirror polished brass, spotlight, two wenge beams, 121,7 x 35 x 0,4 cm (ellipse); 160 x 160 cm (light circle)
Courtesy of the artist and Axel Vervoordt Gallery
Germaine Kruip
°1970, Castricum, the Netherlands
Over the past two decades, Germaine Kruip has been developing a practice that merges time, space and perception. Through architectural, sculptural and performative interventions, she studies the scenography of ungraspable phenomena; the relationship between art and ritual in repetitive gestures; historical attempts to create abstraction by means of geometry – and finally the desires, theories and ideologies underlying these attempts. Her work has been shown (inter)nationally in recent solo exhibitions at The Approach, London, GB (2023), Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnegem, BE (2022) and Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong, HK (2021) as well as in group exhibitions such as Re-Inventing Piet. Mondrian and the Consequences at Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, DE (2023) and Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, DE (2023), Mondriaan Moves, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, NL (2022) and Histories of Dance, Museu de arte de São Paulo, BR (2020). Kruip has received multiple awards. In 1999, she won the Prix de Rome, Second Prize, Theatre & Visual Arts. She was the recipient of the Charlotte Köhler Prize in 2001 and the Best solo booth, Art Brussels in 2015. Germaine Kruip studied Scenography at HKU, Utrecht, and received an MFA in advanced research in theatre and dance studies from DasArts, Amsterdam. She later studied Visual Arts for one year at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. She lives and works between Brussels and Amsterdam, and is represented by Axel Vervoordt (Wijnegem, BE and Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong), The Approach (London, UK), and Gallery Baton (Seoul, South Korea).