dialogue

sjoerd buisman + eva-fiore kovacovsky

16 October 2021 - 19 November 2021

Artists have been inspired by nature for centuries. They imitate or interpret nature, using it as source material or even as a studio to work in. Sometimes nature appears to act as a visual artist, revealing an anthropomorphic sculpture in a twisted branch or an abstract painting in a lichen-covered stone. And yet, art and nature remain separate entities.

Bradwolff Projects in collaboration with Art Affairs presents a duo show with Sjoerd Buisman and Eva Fiore Kovacovsky on the manipulation of nature. Both artists focus on the natural laws that nature always seems to follow. Observations and inspirations are incorporated in their respective drawings, works (sculptures, photographs) and texts. Guided by the tension between abstraction and the (un)recognisability of nature, the works created never lose their relationship with forms that are perceptible in nature.

Buisman pushes his living materials in a specific direction, much like natural forces do. He embraces the plant material with a steady hand; a grip that will not let go until all parts are bent to his will and convey his intention.

Kovacovsky allows nature to resound in her artistic practice as something that is gaining territory at one end and is being framed by human beings at the other. Her photograms are experiments that investigate what happens when prints of nature are returned to nature. A photogram is a print of an object that has been placed directly onto light-sensitive material in the darkroom and then exposed. It is therefore a form of photography without a camera. She searches for the human possibilities in nature without undermining nature.

At Bradwolff Projects, the two artists are presented together in an exhibition. Their connection and mutual crossovers are immediately visible. By echoing the outdoor space of Bradwolff Projects – with its oasis-like qualities – inside, the exhibition becomes a celebration of nature and context.

Both artists wonder whether nature will allow itself to be tamed. Their works shift your gaze and put the – often uncomfortable – relationship between human beings and their environment in a different perspective. Culture and nature are regularly written about as two diametrically opposed entities, especially in a traditionally well-kept country like the Netherlands. To this day, human beings are still trying to influence, tame, restrict, and bend nature to their will. But does nature allow this? Culture and nature are no opposites. Every human life is inextricably linked to both. What does the (near) future look like? Your gaze is directed from inside to outside where human beings are the instigators of climate change, as you simultaneously notice that not everything can be engineered.

The artists Sjoerd Buisman and Eva- Fiore Kovacovsky are present on the finissage November 19th from 15.00 – 18.00 hrs at Bradwolff Projects.