Dürst Britt & Mayhew is delighted to present Dutch artist Wieske Wester ‘s first exhibition at the gallery.

A cabbage, a bunch of bananas or a whiskey glass. The strength that lies in simple and everyday objects is often the starting point for the work of Wieske Wester. These are images without masks that appeal by their lack of visual violence and spectacle, but are nevertheless characterized by a certain degree of ambiguity. Wester’s paintings and drawings depict the human desire for identity, yet are peppered with references to aggression and sexuality. Wrestlers, genitals and figures that hover between beast and man regularly pass in review. For Wieske Wester, the physical act of painting and drawing is the most direct way to capture the fluidity and forcefulness of the human spirit.

Immediately after obtaining her Bachelor’s degree from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, Wieske Wester was selected for a two-year working period at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. In 2008 she was nominated for the Buning Brongers Prizes in Amsterdam and for the Focus Abengoa Painting Prize in Seville, Spain. In 2014 she enrolled at the HISK in Ghent to place herself into a new critical context and to further develop her chosen themes and imagery. Wieske Wester lives and works in Ghent and The Hague.

 

Essay

Click to read a specially commissioned essay on the exhibition by Wieske Wester by Dominic van den Boogerd

 

Reviews and features

Art Viewer

chmkoome’s blog by Kees Koomen

Villa Next Door by Albertus Pieters