Art Rotterdam

For his solopresentation in the booth of Upstream Gallery, Zwartjes will build a monumental sculpture. This new sculpture is constructed from damaged, half decayed materials and objects that Zwartjes collected during his journeys through the city. Purposefully and poignantly he selects the specific building blocks for his sculptures and installations. During his meanderings through the ragged edges of his own city, on undeveloped land lots and in empty, once-squated buildings, the artist seeks suitable waste materials. For every find, be it a weathered wooden beam or a rusty bicycle, Zwartjes weighs whether or not this object meets the criteria he has allready formulated for himself. He does not look for specific things. Miraculously enough, he always seems to find exactly what he needs. In the process of collecting and working with these materials, Zwartjes is both the client and the executor for his own work.
Together with a number of life-size figures, the found materials make up the decor for a mythological journey of self-destruction to rebirth in an apocalyptic tableau.