With her series “Faces Unknown”, Debby van Adrichem searches for the tension between the human and the abstract. To create her art, she starts by observing existing faces and dissolves them until pure humanity remains, regardless of gender, origin and culturally shaped appearances.
Her work is open to personal interpretation, from the feelings you get from a face to the stories that are conjured up in your head.
Visual artist Natasja Alers (The Hague, 1987) graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in the field of ceramics in Amsterdam.
Alers makes casts of human body parts and constructs them into new sculptures, vases, reliefs, seating objects and installations. These works of art often address underlying social issues or inequalities in the way women are treated. Alers is one of the young female artists who are emerging from the shadows of male-dominated history and playing a leading role in contemporary art. She has just been nominated (2023) for the Dutch ceramics prize with exceptional quality.
Her work is rapidly gaining attention and has previously been on display at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Design Museum Den Bosch, PAN Amsterdam, Art Zuid, Collectible Art Fair, Enter Art Fair and many others. Her work is presented at foreign exhibitions in cities such as Antwerp, Berlin, Brussels and Copenhagen and in various important art collections.
Natasja Alers and her work regularly appear extensively in the media. From National TV (Avro Tros), national radio (including NPO Radio 4 Op Het Oog van Morgen, Vroege Vogels NPO1 BNN/VARA, Q-music Radio), and national newspapers such as Trouw, Volkskrant, and a full-page article in the AD (March 2022). One of her works was also chosen in the National Art Calendar 2023. Leading interior magazine “Residence” had a full-page interview with Alers and photos of her work (Feb 2022).
Alers also organizes the Grauzone music/art festival and has curated exhibitions with artists such as Johan Tahon, Susanna Inglada, Theis Wendt and Filip Vervaet.
Margriet Schavemaker, director of the Amsterdam Museum, said during the NPO Avro/Tros TV broadcast (2021) for the Art Zuid exhibition in Amsterdam: “One of my favorite images at Art Zuid is Breast Party XL by Natasja Alers. For Natasja, the future is female.”
You can now admire the exhibitions of Debby van Adrichem and Natasja Alers in WTC Amsterdam.