Timmerik Dubbelklik

The works on paper by Erik Mattijssen and sculptures by Tim Breukers in this exhibition demonstrate how intimate narratives can be told on a grand scale. Starting from the personal, their works evoke universal emotions.

In the sculptures of Tim Breukers (NL, 1985), life and art converge. Key roles are played by scale, humour, narrative, and sculptural techniques versus makeshift solutions. Elements such as his daughter, collaborating in ceramics studios, and the neighbourhood where he lives all influence the process and subject matter of his work.

Peep-boxes served as the starting point for the series of works Breukers presents in the gallery. These evolved into 'peep-vases', their shape based on the two-thirds wine barrels with olive trees inside that he saw on the Beukenplein in Amsterdam. The artist threw these gigantic vases in collaboration with Norman Trapman, a ceramics expert with an idyllic studio outside Amsterdam:

“The moment he starts throwing, I become softer than the clay itself. Wow, this is so beautiful, I exclaim. Norman asks, should it flare out a bit more? “I don't know, I just love it so much.”” Tim Breukers

The first story to find its way into one of the peep-vases presented itself while Norman was throwing. Breukers saw him sitting with his elbows pressed against his sides, his head peering over the vase, and thought he resembled a praying mantis. So he sculpted a praying mantis inside one of the vases, seeking to discover what it is like to be human by practicing human crafts. The title of the vase emerged when Breukers encountered the English word for 'bidsprinkhaan': Mantis. This allowed him to create an apt portmanteau: Norman + Mantis = Normantis.

In total, he created eight vases, four of which are on view in the gallery. They are filled with a marble run, his sleeping daughter, or an inner wall made of rope. They are presented on ceramic plinths that fuse with their load.

For Erik Mattijssen (NL, 19