Opmerking
Mocht het portfolio of CV niet in goede kwaliteit te downloaden zijn via dit formulier, dan zijn beide documenten ook beschikbaar als PDF via mijn INFO-pagina op www.rowanvanas.nl
Rowan van As (1991, Goes, NL) is a visual artist based in Rotterdam. He studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy (2010–2014) and earned his MFA at St. Lucas in Antwerp (2015–2016).
My works emerge from a performative impulse, using real life as source material. I treat the city as a container where images, objects, symbols, trash, art, and functional things merge into our cultural heritage. From these fragments, I create layered works that ask: What if this thing could be that? In doing so, I elevate the discarded and transform it into surreal, icon-like pieces.
For example, I once found a worn 1990s recliner whose decaying base squealed like screaming seagulls. This triggered a performative process, painting a childhood beach memory and linking it to the chair in a playful audiovisual assemblage.
My most ambitious work to date is a functioning reinterpretation of a classic yellow cab. I plan to bring it to New York, placing it in dialogue with the city that inspired it, and documenting the journey along the way. The idea came after watching Taxi driver, later i wanted to make it for real, to really hit the nightly streets with my own built cab.
Recurring themes in my work revolve around the relative powerlessness of the individual: What can an ordinary city dweller truly change? I seek a poetic language to make that tension visible, sometimes playful, sometimes confrontational, always open to dialogue.
Recent exhibitions include Arti et Amicitiae (Amsterdam), Statens Museum for Kunst (Copenhagen), Extrapool (Nijmegen), HOK Gallery (The Hague), SIGN (Groningen), and Brutus (Rotterdam). My work is held in private collections.
contact:
+31636305227
rowanvanas.nl
asvanas@gmail.com
New York Taxi
NEW YORK TAXI (2021–ongoing)
Steel, aluminum, car parts, 500 × 190 × 160 cm
From Rotterdam to New York: Rowan van As has built a fully functional replica
of a 1960–90s New York taxi from steel and aluminum. The plan is to take it
across the Atlantic as a moving stage for stories and music, leading to a film
inspired by Space is the Place, Taxi Driver, and Night on Earth.
Sunny Side up artist run music space
I initiated the artist run space Sunny side up in the spring of 2017. I organised music shows with among others, Lukas Simonis, Moor Mother, Goodiepal and Pals, Dj Urine and Anna Mikhailova, The Postpeople, and Bomp Treb (Neil Young Cloaca)