Studio Gwen van den Bout

'Being Unpolished' at Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, 'When I Give, I Give Myself' exhibition 2015-2016

In the exhibition When I Give, I Give Myself, 23 contemporary artists respond to fragments of Vincent van Gogh’s letters by way of a work of art, poetry or their own letter. In an Open Call, burgeoning artists were invited to submit a proposal for an artwork representing their own response to such a fragment of a Van Gogh letter. The open call was for current students or recent graduates up to one year after graduation. From nearly 70 submissions, the jury selected Being Unpolished by Gwen van den Bout as the winning artwork.

Her installation Being Unpolished is a direct response to a passage from a letter written by Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo in 1882. In this letter, Van Gogh outlines what artistry means to him:“Mauve blames me for saying, I’m an artist – which I won’t take back, because those words naturally imply always seeking without ever fully finding. It’s the exact opposite of saying, ‘I know it already, I’ve already found it’. To the best of my knowledge, those words mean ‘I seek, I pursue, my heart is in it’. The installation illustrates the constant process of change affecting rocks in nature, as a metaphor for the artist’s development.

Collaborators:

Project coordinator: Mirelva Berghout Exhibition instal: Iris Vormgeving

Special thanks to: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

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Studio Gwen van den Bout

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Being Unpolished