FEMMY OTTEN ''TENANT OF CULTURE''

26 Nov 2020 - 9 Jan 2021
Femmy Otten

Studio view Femmy Otten, 2020.

The practice of Femmy Otten (1981, Amsterdam, NL) moves between multiple disciplines, but especially between painting and sculpture. Through her work she wants to create conditions that give space to new ways of thinking and interpreting. Otten has a desire for freedom, to create works in which times are transcended and sexuality and identity can be transformed. With her focus on ambiguity, Otten exceeds rigid social boundaries and emphasizes the fluidity and potential for change. Femmy Otten brings reliefs, drawings and paintings and sculptures together in mysterious wall installations that remind of mythologic narratives.
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Tenant of Culture, Country Styles for the Young, 2020, photo Exile Gallery Vienna.

Her work is both formally and symbolically akin to Greek and Etruscan arts and culture, Renaissance frescoes and, at the same time, contemporary sculptures of Stephan Balkenhol. Otten effortlessly combines recognizable references into a unique symbolism: mythological creatures, abstract emblems, domestic elements and absent gaze come together in an atmospheric iconography. In her search for beauty, she creates elegant, archetypal figures, with features that are reminiscent of Etruscan princesses and Greek or Roman Gods, but which look contemporary at the same time. The experience of motherhood; giving birth, the overwhelming love and connection with women throughout history has become the theme around which new works have developed.

Tenant of Culture 

Tenant of Culture is the name of the practice of Hendrickje Schimmel (b. NL, 1990). She has completed a BA in Fashion Design at ArtEZ School of the Arts, Arnhem, NL followed by an MA in Textiles at the Royal College of Art, London, UK. 

By disassembling and rebuilding manufactured garments, Tenant of Culture examines the ways in which ideological frameworks materialise in methods of production, circulation and marketing of apparel. The materials used in her textile assemblages are sourced from various stages of the garment production cycle as well as secondary use platforms and refuse. She recognises commodities not only as the result of a standardised production process, but also as the social relations that arise in the process of their usage and wastage. Working across mediums such as garment, sculpture, workshop and installation her work suggest implicit potential for both destruction as well as transformation. 

Previous solo exhibitions include I forgot to tell you I’ve changed at Fries Museum (Leeuwarden), Eclogues (an apology for actors) at Nicoletti Contemporary (London) and Works and Days at Outpost Gallery (Norwich). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Le Fondation Cartier (Paris), Frans Hals museum (Haarlem), Centraal Museum Utrecht (Utrecht), Bloomberg New Contemporaries (London), Exile Gallery (Vienna), Galerie Gregor Staiger (Zurich), Soft Opening (London) amongst others.

GALERIE FONS WELTERS
Bloemstraat 140
1016 LJ Amsterdam
www.fonswelters.nl

Opening hours: Tue–Sat, 1–6pm and by appointment.