World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 394 - Marieke Peeters

World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 394 – Marieke Peeters
Marieke Peeters won the Piket Prize for Painting this year. I saw Marieke Peeters appear on stage at theater de Nieuwe Regentes, together with her co-winners Isla Clarke for the Dance section and Joep Hendrikx for the Theater section.

Marieke then said that she was indebted to her grandfather, who had encouraged her from an early age to be creative. The man from whom she got so much inspiration recently passed away at a fairly advanced age; Marieke reflects with gratitude on this great inspiration.

Feeling at home
I speak to Marieke in the Coffee Company, near Noordeinde Palace. The human experience is central to her work, she says. “How do people feel at home in the world? That starts in the house, the rooms, the objects that are there and the people who live there.”

There is an interaction here. The house, the objects, people influence us and at the same time every object and person influences its environment. There are often unequal power relations in this with consequences for the bond you can have with something. Marieke envisions a situation in which there is equality. “A different kind of togetherness than is usually the case. Everything, objects, people, spaces have their own presence that I emphasize in my work. That brings a very nice tension.”

Performer
Her work focuses on the physical experience. To this end, performers are often present, of which it is not always clear whether it is a human, robot or your imagination that is fooling you. That leads to surprising reactions. “Some people find it scary or exciting. Others may also experience it as meditative.” Performers will also be present in her upcoming works.
Her work has aspects of visual art and theatre. What is the underlying idea? Marieke: “I think it is important that a different kind of hierarchy is depicted in the world around us. Based on equality, with people in a different role, no longer at the center. That gives a different, liberating perspective and also more space.”

Her work also focuses on darkness, negative emotions and experiences of being human. “They don’t get that much space in our social reality. I just want to give space to things like sadness and fear. These are feelings that are often hidden away. Sadness and fear don’t have to be something bad, but can also be something beautiful. Giving a place and visualizing negative emotion can reassure you and make you understand these emotions better. Darkness also carries a certain beauty for me.”

The texture of materials
She likes materials with different textures; she is always looking for new properties of materials and fabrics. They often have something strange but also familiar and she plays with the different properties of a material. “By the way, they are not always fabrics, I have also made a work with chocolate pudding. This was homemade pudding and looked like a kind of mud.” She also used black earth, wallpaper and different types of textiles. “For example, a sack of raw wool, which I did not process. The material I work with always has an ambiguity, it remains mysterious.”

Key work
Does Marieke have a key work, a work that caused a change? She has, it’s called ‘Between Whispering Walls’. “I made it with my graduation at ArtEz Arnhem in 2020. It is a large total installation made of dark brown sheep’s wool. It arose from my memory of my bedroom in the parental home. I copied this space and completely covered it with a layer of brown wool that alienated the room. There was a ‘durational performer’ going on here with a performer in a wool suit – not immediately noticed by some viewers. The visitor only experiences this work with subdued light and sound. After a while people get used to the light and you discover more and more. There is an old dusty smell. It’s always exciting how people react. Sometimes people are scared.”
For the first time, this work brought together all her interests. “It was a nice mix of disturbing feelings on the one hand and safety on the other. A kind of ‘Immersive theatre’.”

To The Hague
Marieke Peeters graduated in 2020 at ArtEZ in Arnhem at the Department of Visual Arts. For a year she had her own studio in Arnhem. Then came the realization that she needed a different, new environment for her work. She wanted to develop and deepen that further. That is how she ended up at the Royal Academy in The Hague and opted for the Master’s in Artistic Research. “Challenging. I am very glad that I went to The Hague. There are more opportunities here for the type of work I make. Now I have a studio at KABK. I will graduate here in 2023. It would be nice if I can find a place in a ‘breeding ground’.”
What is her experience of art life?

“Very good so far. I enjoy the freedom of work and sharing experiences with others. It was / is tough, especially during the corona time. I still have to find my place a bit.”
Finally, what is her philosophy?
“Art doesn’t have to be inaccessible. I think it’s important to take as many people as possible with me and not just work from a very theoretical framework. My art is based on physical experiences. Everyone can feel that.”
Images
1) Between Whispering Walls, 2 – 3) Between Whispering Walls, photo Django van Ardenne, 4 – 5) Breathing Chair, Photo Pieter Kers, Beeld.nu, 6) Mother, 7) Curtain, photo Maarten Boswijk, 8) Untitled, Photo Paulina Winiarska, 9) Behind the scenes.1 with Marieke, 10) Performance

 

https://marieke-peeters.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mariekepeetersk/
https://www.piketkunstprijzen.nl/

https://ifthenisnow.eu/nl/verhalen/de-wereld-van-de-haagse-kunstenaar-124-marieke-peeters