Job Koelewijn Water Works, 2009 Aluminum, pvc pipes, compressor

Annsville Creek Preserve, Peekskill, NY
June 2010 – TBA
Double Dutch, 2009-2010 Exhibition

Water Works is located at the Annsville Creek Preserve in Peekskill, NY (MAP). The park is open from dawn to dusk.

Job Koelewijn’s installation has been made possible through the generous support by the Mondriaan Foundation, the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York and FONDS BKVB.

Born in 1962 in Spakenburg, The Netherlands, Job Koelewijn lives and works in Amsterdam.

Koelewijn creates primarily site-specific works that re-frame the way in which we perceive and relate to the world. Under the cover of humor and absurdity, Koelewijn encourages acts of introspection, contemplation and participation. Koelewijn creates installations, architectural structures, choreographed performances, photographs and films. Primarily site-specific and temporary in nature, his works re-frame the way in which we perceive and relate to the world. Informed by poetry and language, his conceptual practice has nonetheless yielded a body of work characterized by its sensuousness and tactile quality, often engaging viewers through smell, taste and touch rather than on a purely optical level. Koelewijn is known for having covered the floor of a Medieval Hall in Middleburg with spaghetti and applied a perfumed baby powder to the walls of an exhibition space in the Venice Biennale. In other instances, Koelewijn challenges established modes of perception on a smaller, more intimate scale. His piece "Internal Communication Amplifier" (1997) consists of a futuristic-looking device that connects an individual's mouth to both ears as a means of intensifying communication with oneself. Under the cover of humor and absurdity, Koelewijn's work couples and uncouples acts of introspection, contemplation and participation.

In the case of 'Water Works', 2009, originally titled 'Billboard', Koelewijn draws attention to the landscape as primal art work, framed as a painting would be. When the reservoir below the billboard frame fills with rain, a veil of water descends from the top of the billboard, further masking the scene. At night, bright spots shine on the vacant space in the frame, leaving the viewer to ponder the missing visage.

Recent solo exhibitions include "Loco Motion" at De Pont, Tilburg (2008), "What is the Word" at Stella Lohaus Gallery, Antwerp (2007), "Continuing Performance" at Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam (2006) and "People can only deal with the fantasy when they are ready for it" at De Paviljoens, Almere, The Netherlands (2004). His work has been shown in numerous museums and international exhibitions including "Morality Act III; And the moral of the story is..." at Witte de With, Rotterdam (2010), "A story of the Image (Visual arts as visual culture)" at the Shanghai Art Museum (i.c.w. MUHKA Antwerpen), Shanghai (2009), "Future systems: Rare moments; Dreaming the future in the present" at Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz, Austria (2007), "Everywhere". The Busan Biennial, Busan, Korea (2006) and "Post Natural" at the 49th Venice Biennale, Venice (2001). He has been awarded the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Art (2006), the Nebest Award (2002), the Sandberg Award (1999) and the Charlotte Köhler Award (1996.

One of the most admired and sought after artists of the Netherlands, Koelewijn's work has also been featured in "Post Natural" at the 49th Venice Biennale, Venice (2001) where he applied a perfumed baby powder to the walls of an exhibition space. Job Koelewijn is represented by Fons Welters, Amsterdam and Stella Lohaus Gallery, Antwerp.

(Excerpted from the web, Art Pension Trust, London)

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