Do your daily encounters already deliver a dose of about Sixteen Conversations in Abstraction?

If Yes: Then Riet Wijnen’s artworks may be too complex.
…… or exactly how your mind is wired.

At first sight, Wijnen’s Sculptuur Sixteen Conversations on Abstraction is constructed with elegant simplicity that recalls Modernist architecture, and is quite meditative to walk around, exploring it from every angle, against a backdrop of shifting shadows.

But it’s a bit like a Matryoshka doll. Simple, smooth and delicate on the surface. But dare to open, and many more layers emerge.
Matryoshkas get smaller as you go on.
The contrary occurs with Wijnen’s art. The more you look, the more you uncover her bigger, broader connections of thought.
Note, that some call these dolls “babushkas”. That means “old woman”. Wijnen is not that, born in just 1988.

Wijnen’s work would nevertheless engage older women, and in fact she is said to pursue exploration of historical themes. This Sculptuur reminds me of “old fashioned” or “quaint” objects. For example:
It’s wooden frame recalls garden hedge mazes,
With its overlaid sections of colour, it becomes akin to a hand weaving loom,
This colour pop also brings to mind the ubiquitous old school arcade game, Pac-Man where bright Pacs navigate a maze.

But the code of this art is probably more complex than that written for Pac-Man. Look to the wall and you find a sort of artwork ‘map’
I could decode this for you, but that’s another story here.

All the best until our next conversation,
Martyne

This slideshow requires JavaScript.