Creative Artist Uses Wooden Blocks to Express Himself

Origin of the Beginning 3.4

www.levivanveluw.com 

Press release: Ron Mandos Amsterdam is excited to announce thelatest solo exhibition of Levi van Veluw.We warmly welcome you to joinus at the opening reception of this eagerly anticipated show on Saturday the 21st of May from 5 to 7 pm, at which the artist 

will be present.

Levi van Veluw will showcase new work from a series of new installations, photographs and videos in which he draws from his own childhood memories to thematically and narratively develop his own brand of self-portraiture.

The artist has created 3 “rooms” covered withmore than 30.000 wooden blocks, balls and slats respectively. (without any digital manipulation)  Each “room” is executed as a life-size installation (4m x 2.5m x 2.5m) andwill be presented at the gallery together with photographs and videos. Portrayed in one piece is a desk, a table lamp, a bookcase. The edge of the table is burned by Levi van Veluw as he had an obsession for fire. All of these objects including every inch of the floor, wallsand ceiling is covered in the same material: 14.000 16 cm2 dark brown wooden blocks. The blocks are made by the artist and glued on the wall one by one. The works suggest a narrative world behind the abstractportraits.

On the one hand these works present themselves as a continuation of van Veluw’s formal approach to self-portraiture, with their preoccupationfor materiality, pattern and texture. Yet they are simultaneously verypersonal pieces. The repetitive structures seemingly express a ‘horrorvacui’ and recall van Veluw the youth and his obsessive attempts togain control on his life by gaining control of his surroundings. Dimlylight and dark in colour the overriding tone of these pieces areclaustrophobic and sombre, exuding a sense of loneliness. The meticulous craftsmanship and high quality material with which every last knock and cranny is covered, result in a series of works that are also highly aesthetic.

These installations are inspired by different aspects of van Veluw's boyhood bedroom, where he spent many solitary hours between the ages of 8 and 14: the Origin of theBeginning. 

Prinsengracht 282 // 1016 HJ Amsterdam // +31 20 3207036

www.ronmandos.nl //info@ronmandos.nl // Open: wed - sat, 12.00 - 18.00

Veluw covered the walls, furniture, and even himself in these wooden blocks, rendering every other color invisible. Once Veluw is in disguise, he sits at his wood-covered desk and attempts to burn it with a cigarette lighter. Veluw explains to viewers that this installation is a re-enactment of his childhood, when he spent a lot of time by himself in his room.

Levi van Veluw’s Origin of the Beginning installation is magnificent for its use of materials, as well as its grim background story.