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Thomas Meijerman

video, schilderen, residency, omgeving, natuur, land art, installatie, Geluid, fotografie, Ecologie, Documentair, Conceptueel, Artistiek onderzoek

My work investigates the complexity of natural landscapes and how evolution shapes them. I explore the relationships within evolutionary processes and their potential influence on my work. To maintain objectivity, I distance myself from the human perspective by observing the world as a whole. The world then becomes an integrated system in which diverse elements coexist, constantly evolving and always finding balance. It forms a complexity I aim to reflect in my work.

The exploration of rocky terrains is a significant part of my fieldwork, as these landscapes hold visible traces of evolutionary changes. I document everything I perceive within a specific area, translating these observations into performance-based works or interventions. For instance, I might introduce a contrasting element into the landscape to observe its alteration through natural processes or practise a performance that changes my perception of the environment. The latter could take the shape of a body shell to altering the movements of my body. Although the interventions fade away, I capture them through documentation such as photos, videos, and notes, using these records as a basis for the creation new works that highlight my process and the formation of the landscape.

Another facet of my practice involves the interpretation satellite imagery through three-dimensional mixed-media paintings. These works are filled with concealed symbolism and gradually form a composite map of interpreted and distorted landscape structures, transcending conventional borders.

Each project builds upon the previous one, focusing on themes of landscapes, evolutionary processes, and interconnections between elements. My approach to art remains practical, and my artworks often embody change.

Landmarks Part I
Landmarks Part I - The project Landmarks is an interpretation of satellite images through three-dimensional mixed-media paintings. These works are build upon concealed symbolism and gradually form a composite map of interpreted and distorted landscape structures, transcending conventional borders. Where conventional maps trace their origins to colonialism, economics, faith, and power, the reshaped map I craft is rooted in landscape patterns. This reimagined cartography invites rediscovery of the world. Employing materials like wood, acrylics, oils, clay, animal bones, metals, beeswax, and stones, each piece symbolizes various elements. Audience interpretations evolve, and my own perspective shifts as I observe these artworks over time. The project is still growing and the full map is under development.
Landmarks Part II
Landmarks Part II - A brief text about this series can be found under 'Landmarks Part I'.
Landmarks Part III
Landmarks Part III - A brief text about this series can be found under 'Landmarks Part I'.
One-Time View
One-Time View - One-Time View is about the perception of a work. After opening the envelope, the contents will begin to disintegrate until nothing remains. Opening the envelope is a private, non-repeatable experience. An optimal experience is created by strictly following the instructions.
A Conversation with the Landscape
A Conversation with the Landscape Part I - A Conversation with the Landscape is a project in which I am searching for a dialogue with the ever evolving landscape. Through a series of performances, interventions and works I am trying to awaken a reaction from the surrounding nature. With my artistic capabilities, I am becoming part of the layers of history that are clearly visible within the large rock structures. Some of the works are very short lived and are almost immediately taken over by the elements. Others stayed for longer and some were taken home to show in a different setting. I try to experience the landscape in a different way. Within this nest you don’t feel cold or wind. The whole environment can be observed from the inside through a layer of flickering reflections and chicken wire. The sounds within this nest are the building waves that hit the surrounding rocks and crumbling of thin plastic. This installation is meant to be part of the landscape while also adding something.
A Conversation with the Landscape Part II
A Conversation with the Landscape Part II - The medium of photography offers a way to capture processes and reflect on the human body within the landscape in a new way. The formation of the rocks both influence my movement through the landscape as well as the shape of the work. My traces on the wet rocks and the image are all that is left.
A Conversation with the Landscape Part III
A Conversation with the Landscape Part III - The physical strength of my work compared to the strength of the surrounding rock formations is not only a material comparison. The work has to be shaped by my hands and I am the one that is responsible for the meeting between the work and the landscape. My physical and mental capabilities are not only influenced by me but by the elements and the landscape as well. A conversation has to be two ways in order to be more than a monologue.
A Conversation with the Landscape Part IV
A Conversation with the Landscape Part IV - A perfect shape is almost only possible with human influence. It is made out of dolomite powder. When the sea rose with the tide, the circle flocked into different shapes back into the landscape. The waves completed the circle or turned it into other shapes that seemed more natural.
Positioning in the Chain of Creation
Positioning in the Chain of Creation Part I - As an artist, I’ve always admired and appreciated the formation process of a landscape. The dynamics of the landscape are strongly affected by the organisms that inhabit it and the elements that shape it. The structures of a landscape are created through a multitude of factors. In my opinion, this dynamic is the main reason why a landscape is an embodiment of a perfect creation. As an artist, I am striving to create something as sublime as a landscape. In this project, I research my position in relation to the landscape and try to figure out what I can contribute. How does my ability to create, compare to the abilities of nature? What kind of positive influence and value can I provide as a human being? To exercise this influence and to create the essential dynamic, I needed to use the same organisms and elements that one finds in nature. Through experiments with capturing landscapes through photography and drawing, I have gained a better understanding of the specifics of the factors necessary to create a landscape. Based on these findings I started to create my own landscapes. To construct, I was required to work together with nature. Within these landscapes, I have mainly experimented with the power of plants, animals, water, and human beings. Working with nature in this sense has made me question my position in the chain of creation. Only through partnership with nature itself, would I be able to achieve to gain a higher position within this chain. As I shaped my self-made landscapes, the landscapes also shaped my vision. My perception evolved similarly to the evolution process of existing landscapes. One thing I’ve learned is to see the beauty, importance and influence of small beings instead of only bigger factors and gave them refuge in my own landscape. The landscape I created is a symbiosis of natural and cultural elements that are carefully selected and combined.
Positioning in the Chain of Creation Part II
Positioning in the Chain of Creation Part II
Positioning in the Chain of Creation Part III
Positioning in the Chain of Creation Part III
Positioning in the Chain of Creation remains part I
Positioning in the Chain of Creation remains Part I - The landscape I created couldn't exist forever like the landscape outside so through the medium of photography I captured the landscape and turned it into a book. In this book the forms of my isolated landscape are compared with the forms within the outside landscape. The book is placed in a wooden box that also contains the earth used for the landscape itself. The lit of the box has an inlay of a self made rock.
Positioning in the Chain of Creation remains part II
Positioning in the Chain of Creation remains Part II
Positioning in the Chain of Creation remains part III
Positioning in the Chain of Creation remains Part III
Island Discovery - It is becoming harder and harder to find a place in the world that isn’t already discovered by humans. It became impossible to find a piece of land without obvious traces of human kind. This leaves me with an empty feeling, it makes things more boring in a way and flat. I believe that it is important not to understand everything in the world and leave some mystery, it gives depth. Growing up in The Netherlands meant that I grew up in a country where every piece of land is designed by mankind and big parts of land are even drilled up from the sea. In this project I went out and took photos of untouched fragments of landscapes. Hereby I claimed these places to be part of my imaginary island. There are also parts where I made temporary land art in order to really make the land my own. Now I have a constantly growing and developing island that only I can discover further and only I can show. Everyone with imagination can visit but not one can leave a trace.
Human Nature - Can nature still be sublime in an Anthropocene world? I’ve always believed that we’re tiny compared to nature and that nature is much stronger than us. When getting lost in the woods of England or being dragged under a stone in my kayak, I experienced these natural forces in a down scaled way. This power is familiar to all of us via either news media or from our own experience. I wanted to show the beauty of these powers. Along the way tough I found out that most forests are manmade and we’re trying to control nature’s forces. We’re building dams to protect ourselves from water and shooting arrows in the sky to stop the rain from falling. More and more people believe we’ve entered the Anthropocene and we’re banned to control and rival nature. This feeling of being no more than a powerless species in a world we think to own sort of comforted me. Hearing about the Anthropocene made me worry about the nature still being as sublime as the romantic vision in my head. Something that comforted me was the fact that of course we are nature and the more we change it, it will change us. To try and find out about our relationship with nature, I made some nature myself and used human forces as a force of nature to try and make it sublime to me. Can nature still be sublime to all of us in the Anthropocene and are we part of it?

Ruins & Renewal

Datum:
Locatie: Het Archief Artspace
In samenwerking met: Curator: Hannah van den Elzen, Expositieruimte: Het Archief Artspace

Hannah van den Elzen cureerde een groepsexpositie bij Het Archief waarin er een aantal van mijn werken werden laten zien.

https://hetarchiefartspace.com/space

Connected

Datum:
Locatie: Frank Taal Galerie
In samenwerking met: Frank Taal Galerie

Bij Frank Taal cureerde ik de expositie Connected.

De kunstenaars in Connected werken allen met het thema verbinding, elk vanuit een unieke invalshoek. Hun werken bieden perspectieven op mogelijke verbindingen in de hedendaagse samenleving. Dit concept wordt versterkt door de indeling van de expositie, die de ervaring van verbinding tastbaar en voelbaar maakt.

https://www.franktaal.art/expositie/connected.html

Something Sticky Under Your Feet

Datum:
Locatie: Brutus
In samenwerking met: Bcademie en Brutus

Mijn werk Landmarks werd gepresenteerd tijdens de eindexpositie van de Bcademie bij Brutus.

Dämmerung

Datum:
Locatie: Van Speykstraat 129
In samenwerking met: Frank Taal Galerie

Ik cureerde de show Dämmerung bij Frank Taal Galerie.

The summer exhibition Dämmerung is exclusively opened during twilight; the moment of
day in which the amount of sunlight declines, and the day transforms into night. During this
exhibition, all phases of dusk will be addressed; from the so called ‘civil’ dusk – in which the
human eye is still capable of detecting all small details -, until the ‘astronomic’ dusk, -in
which the darkness finally takes away our sight.

https://thomasmeijerman.com/2023/07/28/dammerung/

Supermarket Independent Art Fair 2023

Datum:
Locatie: Supermarket Independent Art Fair 2023
In samenwerking met: Bcademie en Supermarket Independent Art Fair

Mijn werk 'One Tima View' werd door de Bcademie gepresenteerd bij Supermarket Art Fair in Zweden

https://supermarketartfair.com/exhibitors-2023/

The Big A5 Show

Datum:
Locatie: Banierstraat 62
In samenwerking met: Bcademie

Mijn werk 'One Time View' werd gepresenteerd bij de Big A5 Show

Art Central Rotterdam XL

Datum:
Locatie: Supernova Hotel
In samenwerking met: Art Central Rotterdam XL

Een kleine presentatie in het Supernova Hotel voor Art Central Rotterdam.

The New Current

Datum:
Locatie: Brutus
In samenwerking met: The New Current

De installatie die ik bij The New Current presenteerde was een videoprojectie, geluid en een bassin waarin de video werd weerspiegeld.

https://www.thenewcurrent.org/rotterdam-art-week-2023

Experimentele Projectweken

Datum:
Locatie: Pictura
In samenwerking met: Pictura

2 weken experimentele projectweken waarbij we met 5 personen fulltime ons werk maakte in de ruimte van Pictura. Het ging hierbij niet om de uitkomst maar om het process. Het werk dat ik maakte was een werk waarbij alle trillingen in het gebouw versterkt werden en visueel werden gemaakt.

https://www.pictura.nl/copy-of-geweest

Wild Summer of Art Part II

Datum:
Locatie: Brutus
In samenwerking met: Brutus

Grote groepsexpositie van Rotterdamse kunstenaars

https://brutus.nl/nl/programma/nu+te+zien/wild+summer+of+art+part+ii/

A Conversation with the Landscape

Datum:
Locatie: Biskaje
In samenwerking met: nvt

Een project waarbij in voor 3 maanden in Biskaje woonden om een onderzoeksproject te doen. Door middel van interventies en performances probeerde ik mijn kunst te gebruiken om een gesprek te voeren met het landschap.

https://thomasmeijerman.com/a-conversation-with-the-landscape/

Human-Landscape Interaction

Datum:
Locatie: galleryviewer
In samenwerking met: RAM gallery

Een online solo expositie op Galleryviewer georganiseerd door RAM als onderdeel van de Talent-Room.

https://galleryviewer.com/en/exhibition/2235/human-landscape-interaction?fbclid=IwAR1hThe3rsF-0HcIGday3WtmSnqM-dXW6figMn8u9dkeoXh1O4r3FpT0FkQ

Here We Are Now

Datum:
Locatie: ARWE Gallery

Een expositie van vijf kunstenaars die recentelijk een kunstopleiding of post graduate hebben afgerond. De expositie is samengesteld door Edwin Spek

https://arwe.gallery/current-exhibition/
Deze kunstenaar heeft nog geen toekenningen.