Lars van de Grift

Statement

Central to my work is the urge to identify conflict as a means of creating. Specifically, adult conflict guides me in creating free play zones: a free standing reflective playing field. In my videos and live performances I aim to nourish a multiple reality where directed and spontaneous reactions intersect. ‘Show your babies to Hella van Eem’ is a recent video work. The work follows a social experiment. Hella is a farmer lady and a known person from my youth. In this work she is forced to enter into a new experience. Changes in the environment, from farm to city, are directed and form a spontaneous, yet to an extent a forced transition. In my work I unravel the causes behind different attitudes and desires between Hella’s and my reality. I also paint. I’m working in a direct way. I don’t see these works as paintings, but as prints or materials to interact with, even within another medium. I work with rough textures, a free standing use of materials and rigid colour compositions.

GlogauAIR Project

At the GlogauAIR residency I would like to work on a series of documented performances. These performances can be seen as interventions and they will connect me, as a maker, with different people from the city of Berlin. In every performance I will invite a stranger to my studio. My aim is to receive guests that are exceptional or different from my reality. In the studio I create a manipulated set-up to exploit this exciting new acquaintance. The connection between me and the stranger will be documented. During the making process I will find out the potential in this new connection. How the relationship between me and these strangers will develop in this series will be interesting and surprising for the viewer. Partly it will be real life documentation and partly manipulated set-ups. Last year I’ve already had the chance to live in Berlin for a short time, despite corona it was for me, as a young artist, a nourishing experience to explore the diverse identity of the city.

CV Summary

Education

• 2014-2018 (BA) Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Fine Arts & Design, Amsterdam (NL), graduated with an honorable mention given by the jury of the Gerrit Rietveld Awards
• 2016-2017 Exchange, The School of Visual Theatre, Jerusalem (ISR)

Exhibitions

• 2021 Premiere of film ‘Show your babies to Hella van Eem’, Kunstkapel, Amsterdam
• 2020 Paintings, group show – ‘Dutch Connection – Back in town!’, Het Vrijpaleis, Amsterdam
• 2019 Live Performance, ‘Life-and-death’, Tetterode, Amsterdam
• 2019 Video and live Performance, ‘WTF Queer’, Vrankrijk, Amsterdam
• 2019 Live Performance, Willem de Ridder event, Willem Twee toonzaal, ’s-Hertogenbosch
• 2019 Video installation and live performance for launch of platform ‘NOW’, Zapp productions, Gilles van Ledenberchstraat, Amsterdam
• 2018 Installation and video ‘Hi Performance’, Graduation show, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
• 2018 Screening film ‘Hi Performance’, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam

Gallery