Bildhalle is pleased to announce the representation of the Dutch artist Thirza Schaap (1971*).
Wandering along the beach, the artist finds plastic that has washed ashore and once in her atelier transforms it into beautiful sculptures. By photographing these sculptures, she tries to evoke an emotional response from the public by creating a contradiction. A clash between the initial aesthetic appeal and after a second look: repulsion and the realization of the tragedy that waste causes.
Thirza Schaap in her own words: “Plastic Ocean is a project which I started to create awareness around pollution, to try and prevent – or at least reduce – the use of plastic. As a child I would walk over beaches and through fields and forests to collect beautiful shells, shimmering stones, feathers and funnily shaped branches. Much later, when spending more time on the beaches all over the world, I found myself doing the same thing. Only to discover that I started filling my pockets with trash instead of treasure. Simply documenting the washed up, eroded plastic findings wasn’t doing justice to the beauty of their colors and textures. I decided to separate them from any reference to their original environment, so that they became stand-alone objects – the basis of my compositions.”
Bildhalle will exhibit the artist’s work for the first time in June 2021 at the gallery in Amsterdam connected to her book launch of PLASTIC OCEAN (1605 Publishers), followed by a generous presentation of her work at Unseen Amsterdam in September 2021.
By courtesy of Eyeforce and Frank Solomon
