Vesta Kroese

13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 

13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 

Cut cardboard guitar boxes, stamp with black ink on Folkies price tags, cut found Mahalo Ukuleles Calendar, framed photograph of artist, locked existing door, slat wall / -panel hooks / -panel brackets, plectrums, white tac, block of London plane, emptied out space, artworks, cut Epiphone poster, piece of broken wall, 5cm open door to storage room, guitars, 320 found Accordion Catalogues by John Leslie, exhibition plinths, amp – and keyboard stands.
For this occasion the basement was opened up to the public

This installation is a playful collection of gestural artworks, in different media and sizes, installed and conceived all through the shop. As if the shop was a museum.
Folkies is a small privately owned music shop which started in the 1970s as the biggest collection of accordions in London. Now it sells and repairs all kinds of instruments, old and new. While functioning as a shop, the social and physical context of Folkies was used as studio space for 2 weeks, after that the exhibition opened for 9 days. Based on the concept of an object on display, a multitude of different artworks were created mixing an intuitive and reactive approach, with one that the cultural production of visual arts and music have in common; such as rhythm, improvisation, composition, silence, style, scale. The title refers to the Wallace Stevens poem ‘Thirteen ways of Looking at a Blackbird’ (1917) that can be seen as an exercise in perspectives and shift of meanings.

 
Exhibited as part of You Are Here, organised by Camden Arts Centre’s Front of House Volunteers 
The Mahalo Ukuleles Calendar is also exhibited at:Function room, curated by Jack Tan

Gender (in)convenience
Gender (in)convenience
Gender (in)convenience
Gender (in)convenience

Gender (in)convenience

Bronze
3 x 3 x 4 cm

The origin of this work can be shown by a little story: While I was working in a London Bronze foundry we often made molds with silicone. This material stiffens only when you mix it with a pink liquid. While doing that it has a limited fabrication time. When you are too slow, the material hardens before you are ready. Sometimes we had mixed too much. I would hurry to make a small sculpture out of clay, to make a mold for it with this leftover silicone. One day I wanted to sculpt my vagina and got frustrated by the time pressure, so I made a quick penis instead.

The word ‘(in)convenience’ comes from the latin word ‘convenīre’ which means ‘to come together/to unite’. The stiffened silicone mold I made turned out to look like the vagina after all.

Exhibited at: News of the world, London 2016
Thanks to: Arch Bronze, London
Photos by: Sun-Hak Kwon

WORK FOR GALLEYWAY
WORK FOR GALLEYWAY
WORK FOR GALLEYWAY

WORK FOR GALLEYWAY

Wood, wheels, pencils, elastic band, movement of people in space
approx 400 x 120 x 65 cm each

The unique aspect of the exhibition venue which functions not only as a gallery but also as a passageway to get in and out of the building has been the trigger to develop this site-specific installation. The functional movement of bodies and language of barricades is translated into an aesthetic experience of space and time. 
The mobile sculptures leave – while being pushed out of the way – a pencil trace on the floor.

Exhibited at: Hockney Gallery, London 2013
In collaboration with: Suhee Kim, Photos by: Sun-Hak Kwon

Wedge as long as the height of its door
Wedge as long as the height of its door

Wedge as long as the height of its door

Wood, white paint
10 x 5 x 3500 cm

This sculpture is an intuitive reaction to the classical proportions and symmetric architecture of the galley and its build context. This wedge breaks the symmetry of the gallery by allowing the storage door to be open, and gives access to a different view off the space.

Exhibited at: AVU Gallery Prague, 2013
Curated by: Anna Clifford and Miloslav Vorlícek

Illumination & ventilation (fluffery thing)
Illumination & ventilation (fluffery thing)

Illumination & ventilation (fluffery thing)

Overhead projector, aluminium leaf, aluminium tape
220 x 60 x 135 cm

An overhead projector is placed in an angle near a wall, on which an fake silver leaf is stuck. The fan and light of the overhead projector makes the leaf move and reflect constantly. The effect is incredibly visual and unpredictable.

Exhibited at: Degree show RCA 2014, Function Room, London 2015, Karst, Plymouth 2016
Curated by: Jack Tan (Function Room), Jordan Baseman and Carl Slater (Karst)

(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …
(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …

(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …

Cut packaging, dimensions variable 
white stairs, 164cm x 126.5cm x 60cm

Cardboard cutouts of packaging have had all visual and written information removed. Trimming away the language and flattening the forms creates a collection of architectural models that have been arranged on the floor. The gallery forms the landscape and terrain on which the city rests.
On the other side of the wall is a staircase that allows the viewer to accentuate the bird’s eye view provided by the model. The stairs echo the architectural structure of the gallery including the underside of a set of stairs directly above them.

Exhibited at: Lychee One, London 2015
Curated by Angels Miralda

Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling
Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling
Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling
Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling
Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling
Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling

Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling

Eight hectares of pinecone forest, Terschelling

In The Netherlands almost all nature is cultivated. In this light we might consider it a sculpture. While an eight hectares forest had to be cut down we made use of this action by integrating an artwork, with the longing to make this ongoing cultivated ‘sculpture’ tangible. The process took place over the course of three years. The first year architectural installations with the materials of the trees were made in the forest. The second year 26 trees from the outline of the forest were kept (while the rest was cut down), each tree standing individually as a complete stranger in the landscape. They made it possible to get a real physical sense of the size of a forest at once. The dotted line of trees was visible from far on the horizon of the island.
During the landscape festival Oerol, a performative silent walk from tree to tree took place. An informal path arose, showing the outline of the old forest. From the last trees a couple of benches were created by chopping the tree in slices and bounding the trunks around the core.

2009 – 2011
Commissioned by Staatsbosbeheer and Oerol Terschelling
Aerial photo by Gerrit Bart Volgers, other photos by Wiesje Korf

my one
my one
my one
my one

my one

Acrylic on paper 
70 x 100 cm

An installation of site-oriented paintings and chairs is the product of an alertness towards attitudinal shifts during a month long residency StudioRCA. The process of painting became an undercover activity questioning the social, political, educational and physical structures in the context of the Riverlight development. The work shows an ambiguous mix of antagonistic, joyous, observational, self-caring, agonistic, emotional and intellectual puns, wordplay and deliberate spelling mistakes.

Exhibited at: StudioRCA, London 2016
Residency at Riverlight Studio’s London 12/2015 – 01/2016
Publication MYONE, published by ErosPress (to download at contact page)

The 579th door
The 579th door
The 579th door
The 579th door

The 579th door

Door handle, door numbers, email invitation, children’s chairs, tulips, blankets, domestic an building lights, use of existing exhibition wall / glass facade and artificial palm tree garden.
120 cm in width

Instead of using the exhibition wall to present an artwork, an opening was created to show the space behind it. With the work, the attitude of the commercial art object vs the theory of relational aesthetics was tested. After counting all the doors of the building, the opening in the form of a door was given the number of that extra door. An email was send to all users of the building with an invitation to use the temporary space behind the door. The space between the ‘fake’ exhibition wall and the actual glass facade of the building was now accessible, putting attention to the artificial palm garden. Minimal props were added to make visitors feel comfortable to stay.

Exhibited at: WIP show, Royal College of Art, Darwin Building, London 2013

Pure Pain
Pure Pain
Pure Pain
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Pure Pain

Pure Pain

Removal of letters from ‘Sculpture’ and ‘Painting’ signs
approx 50 x 35 cm each letter

The authorities of the college are persuaded to let the letters from the signs to the college’s ‘Sculpture’ and ‘Painting’ departments be partially removed. It frames the building with the words ‘pure’ and ‘Pain’ instead.

Exhibited at: Degree show Royal College of Art, London (2014) and Google Maps Street view (online)
Credits movie: Camera: Delmar Mavignier Edit: Christian van der Kooy

Back

Illumination & ventilation (fluffery thing)

Gender (in)convenience

Pure Pain

my one

Unique Bond

WORK FOR GALLEYWAY

13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GUITAR 

(STUDY FOR ‘A WORDLESS CITY’) WHERE NO ONE SPEAKS, READS NOR …

HIER / DAAR

Monument for a transforming landscape, Terschelling

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Vesta Kroese is an artist, educator and researcher currently residing in The Hague and working around Europe (including the UK). Her interest is on what it means to be human now, how we can develop inner and outer transformations. Mostly starting from her personal perspective, she is interested in the influence between the individual and the (capitalist) system in which we live. She studied Architecture at the Technical University Eindhoven (1999-2006) after which she ran many artistic projects in public space. Her longing for an international art basis made her study Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London (2012-2014). Since 2012 she works as an in(ter)dependent artist, producing art for galleries, shops, institutions, private homes, nature and city spaces. Some of her projects are highly co-created with peer artists, architects and cultural institutions, based on interdependence and generosity. She has participated in art residency programs in The Netherlands, England, Germany and Spain.

Contact inquiries: vestakroese[at]gmail[dot]com
Visit at SeeLab: Duinstraat 55 The Hague or call +31 (0)6 1540 2941
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Download the first 9 pages of my artistbook MyOne (1.9mb pdf)

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Questions around the artist legacy of Ad Kroese email hallo[at]adkroese[dot]nl or look here

Works on this site have been made possible by financial support of Stroom Den Haag, Mondiaan Fonds, CBK Rotterdam, ING collection, private investors, Royal College of Art London. Specifically Hier/daar: Deltafonds, St. Volkskracht, Stichting Kick, Stichting Downtownberaad, Deelgemeente Charlois, Deelgemeente Centrum, Stadshavens Rotterdam, DienstKunst en Cultuur, CBK Rotterdam and Pact op Zuid.

 

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