CAROLEIN SMIT

 
 

Carolein Smit est une artiste néerlandaise. Née aux Pays-Bas en 1960, elle a d'abord suivi une formation en graphisme et en gravure, puis s'est tournée vers la céramique en 1996, après une résidence à l’European Ceramic Work Center (EKWC). Elle vit et travaille aujourd'hui en Belgique. Ses expositions personnelles ont été organisées dans des lieux prestigieux tels que le Victoria & Albert Museum de Londres, le Museum Kermion de Frechen, le Drents Museum d'Assen et le Grassi Museum de Leipzig. Elle a reçu trois bourses de la Fondation pour l'art contemporain, le design et l'architecture d'Amsterdam et a été honorablement mentionnée pour le Prix de Rome. Son travail a fait l'objet de plusieurs documentaires.

Les œuvres figuratives de Carolein Smit ont en commun leur sublime et séduisant traitement de surface en argile et en glaçure, avec d'innombrables détails préfabriqués et répétés. Ces sculptures - par leur fragilité, leur préciosité, leurs couleurs vives ou la richesse de leurs apparats - provoquent des sentiments contradictoires entre vulnérabilité et force, attraction et répulsion, joie et tristesse... L'artiste semble de cette manière sonder les beautés transgressives et contredire certains canons classiques. A travers des figures exubérantes, drôles ou potentiellement choquantes, l'artiste convoque, en usant des contrastes, les dualités qui animent notre condition humaine : l'innocence dans la culpabilité, l'opulence dans la religion, la haine dans l'amour ou encore la mort dans la vie. Son intérêt pour les cabinets de curiosité nourrit son inspiration et se reflète dans ses sculptures dans la mesure où ces wunderkammers représentent le point de rencontre entre l'art, la science et la mythologie.

"It is not very difficult to like my work. Everything shines and glitters, is adorable, and the details of eyes, tongues, noses and ears are endearing. People love that kind of refinement., It can bring back memories of precious Meissen porcelain. That’s just the way I like it. I want people to love my sculptures. I want them to loose their hearts to them and I do all I can to make them do so.
At the same time I don't want to make this loving too easy. It’s painful, fragile, unfulfilled, and sometimes dangerous. Where are the boundaries, where does innocence become guilt? Where does life become death? That is what my work is about. The tension brought by emotional dilemmas, trying to separate right from wrong where everything evolves out of clumsyness, coincidence and misunderstanding. In my work these dilemmas exist as a complicated knot of conflicting messages.
I think that the turning point where seriousness becomes melodramatic, beauty turns into overkill and love becomes hate, makes a subtle balance that is very annoying and at the same time very interesting."

Carolein Smit is a Dutch artist. Born in the Netherlands in 1960, she first studied graphic design and engraving, then turned to ceramics in 1996, after a residency at the European Ceramic Work Center (EKWC). She now lives and works in Belgium. Her solo exhibitions have been organized in prestigious venues such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Museum Kermion in Frechen, the Drents Museum in Assen and the Grassi Museum in Leipzig. She has received three grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture in Amsterdam and was honourably mentioned for the Prix de Rome.

Carolein Smit's figurative works have in common their sublime and seductive surface treatment in clay and glaze, with countless prefabricated and repeated details. These sculptures - by their fragility, their preciousness, their vivid colors or the richness of their appearances - provoke contradictory feelings between vulnerability and strength, attraction and repulsion, joy and sadness... In this way, the artist seems to probe transgressive beauties and contradict certain classical canons. Through exuberant, funny or potentially shocking figures, the artist convokes, using contrasts, the dualities that animate our human condition: innocence in guilt, opulence in religion, hatred in love or death in life. Her interest in curiosity cabinets feeds her inspiration and is reflected in her sculptures as these wunderkammers represent the meeting point between art, science and mythology.

© Moved Media Artist Impression