Art Rotterdam
Robin de Puy (NL), Ruth van Beek (NL) and Nico Krijno (SA)

1-4 July 2021

STAND #33

Robin de Puy’s (b.1986 Netherlands) photographs start with a desire to tell her own story through the faces of others. Whether it’s the freckled adolescent she noticed whilst refuelling in Wyoming, the Dutch author, poet and columnist Remco Campert, or the boy Randy she met in Nevada, de Puy sees the camera as an aid to understand the deeply personal traits and histories of each person, and how they also reveal something about herself.

Ruth van Beek (b. 1977 Netherlands) uses the established visual codes of photography to guide viewers into a belief in the incredible rarity or importance of the shown object, even when that object is unidentifiable. From a growing archive of found photographic material, van Beek arranges images in constantly changing ways. The primary source for her odd and playful collages are specialist books and magazines of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Exercising her distinctive approach, van Beek then physically intrudes into the found images from her archive. Painted pieces of card poke manipulate and conceal.

Nico Krijno (b. 1981 South Africa) has a background in theatre and experimental video, Krijno works at the blurry intersection of photography, collage, painting, sculpture and performance. Nico Krijno’s latest collection of work, Lockdown Collages, were made at his farmhouse outside of Cape Town during lockdown. Hundreds of encyclopaedic images – ikebana arrangements, marble faces, kitsch household items and ornate furniture to name a few – have been sliced horizontally and stacked vertically into fantastical totem poles made from parts that refuse to be complete.