Wessel Verrijt
Dobŭr Den, Bavni Dŭski

As part of the ARV.I artist residency program, Wessel Verrijt concludes his artist-in-residence with a solo exhibition, titled Dobŭr Den, Bavni Dŭski, at Gallery Heerz Tooya.

After sweeping through uncharted grounds, collecting readymades, appropriating them in the ways it feels right, Wessel Verrijt's exhibition is a situation where we are introduced to sculptures, or characters, if you will, assembled with a diversity of memories and transposed by familiarities and imagination. There are outlandish dynamics happening. As if a hybrid of various objects has made reversed adolescence. An endless chain of significances, bound by an attitude that the instruments of art may playfully deepen the understandings of the Anthropocene not only as a linear goal but perhaps a rhizomatous departure. As we zoom out from the fragmented and familiar objects, the sculptures and the exhibition as a whole shapes new thoughts and conditions of possibilities.

The kinetics of Verrijt's sculptures have partaken in a journey, partially by ritual and method, yet without specific rules. There is a certain generosity in play, inviting us viewers to dwell about ways of seeing. Poetry and creativity as part of our perception and understanding of objecthood and its part in everyday life, directly relational and imaginary. How things come to life. Magnitudes of interpretations. Mythologies in transit. Dive into the beauty of glue.

- Lars Nordby

Wessel Verrijt (1992, Eindhoven NL) builds sculptures that play the leading role as “entities” within his rituals. In the rituals he creates, his props, set and protagonists come together to form a immersive installation. Within the immersive installations there is a fine line between art, theater and choreography, in order to create a new mythology of symbols and meaning.

In 2018 Verrijt graduated in Fine Arts from AKV St.Joost Art Academy (’s-Hertogenbosch NL). In May 2020, the Mondriaan Fund awarded Verrijt with the Stipendium for Emerging Artists. In June 2021 Verrijt had his first solo-exhibition at Das Leben am Haverkamp (The Hague, NL). Verrijt has previously presented and/or resided at Geeraard de Duivelsteen (Ghent, BE), AVL Mundo (Rotterdam, NL), De Vishal (Haarlem, NL), De Fabriek (Eindhoven, NL), Extrapool (Nijmegen, NL), Temporary Art Centre (Eindhoven, NL), Derde Wal (Nijmegen, NL), Marres (Maastricht, NL). www.wesselverrijt.com / Instagram

The exhibition is supported by Mondriaan Fund, JUMP!, Kunstloc, and the Municipality of Veliko Turnovo. Many thanks to Tequila Bar Funky Monkey and Pernod Ricard for serving free drinks at the vernissage.