Wietse Eeken – Sculptures – The Netherlands
Wietse Eeken is a Rotterdam based sculptor.
His work method has a strong traditional character, even though he has a very contemporary use of materials. Within the work the dualism between the radical and the traditionalism is very much on front. One the one side it is about the sculptural work at its most pure form, the material, the form, and the honesty of the process. On the other side there is the story behind the form which isn’t always subtle or nuanced. The work should be seen as illustration of this story.
A hodgepodge of references to literature and pop culture that is continuously molded into new forms. Story lines appear and disappear whenever the figures that inhabit the story take on a new appearance.
Again and again these figures inhabit this story world that seems apparently elusive. Is the body of work telling the same story or do they seem to unite fragments of other storylines within them. The work always incorporates a duality of form and look that envelops them time and again in an eerie atmosphere. In a world where beauty has a doubtful downside the dark side of the story increasingly manifest itself.
The work Wietse Eeken makes is never a glamorous statement but moreover a serious translation of his most particular reality.