The group came together on a Step Up: Exploring Collections and Curating Exhibitions course to learn about the Dutch artist, with most of them being unaware of his work beforehand. Each artist selected an artwork by Van Genk that spoke to them and created new work in response. The resulting exhibition brings together Van Genk’s work alongside their responses, which vary in approach and mediums and cover many themes, including the urban environment, personal journeys and conflicting feelings between finding solace in the outside world and a fear of engaging with it.
The digital exhibition, which is kindly supported by the Baring Foundation and a private donor, will launch with a Curators Talk on Friday 2 May (2-3:30pm) where the artists involved will explore the process of curating as a group and share their unique insights into the work of this important 20th century artist. You can register for the free event here: Register for event
Willem Van Genk (1927–2005) was a Dutch artist known for densely detailed cityscapes informed by his fascination with transportation and travel. Almost entirely self-taught and discouraged from artistic training, he struggled with his mental wellbeing and had trouble being taken seriously as an artist due to being labelled an ‘Outsider’ artist.
Van Genk’s work often looked to reflect the post-war urban environments of Europe, including Eastern Bloc cities. He had great respect for Soviet order, which he admired for its political and social philosophy of a citizen’s equality, something he did not feel in the society he lived in. In his later years he achieved recognition through solo exhibitions, his work setting a record for being the most expensive ‘Outsider’ artwork sold by the time of his death.
Van Genk’s work has inspired diverse responses from the group of Outside In artists on the course. Artist Necia Lewis has created a mixed media work, ‘Nottinghamscape’, made in response to Van Genk’s ‘Vesuvius’, an experimental piece designed to convey the atmosphere of a city, its busyness, juxtapositions of buildings, texture and context, spaces and heights. Jay Ottewell’s ‘METRO-people-LIFE’ is made entirely from collected travel tickets, from tram to train receipts, whilst artist Edgington has created a mixed media piece on cardboard, ‘Birmingham’ – a love letter to the city he calls home, inspired by Van Genk’s ‘Praag’.
Julia Fry created a shamanic drum which she used to connect with the spirit of the artist and a 3D sculpture, ‘Black Hole Of Loneliness’, inspired from her drumming sessions, whilst artist Diana Hamilton’s ‘Travel Pass’ endeavours to follow a journey across the mainland of Scotland, made by various different types of transport. Inspired by Van Genk’s ‘Truth Festival’, Carla Cannon’s mixed-media work ‘Moral Compass’ maps her journey from birth through abuse, broken family dynamics and betrayal to an ongoing truth. Made in response to Van Genk's ‘Trolleybusstation Arnhem’, Jenny Hall’s ‘Demyelination/Demigration’ uses the same compositional layout, size and materials to portray feelings of a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and first relapse. Kate Bradley’s ‘Temple Church’ identifies with both Van Genk’s serious mental health issues and his creativity and reliance on art as a means to get by.
The exhibition goes live on 1 May and runs to 31 July at www.outsidein.org.uk
Curators Talk on Friday 2 May (2-3:30pm) - Register for event
