Rademakers Gallery
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Rademakers Gallery

Rademakers Gallery presentation 'Works of Paper' is one based on the medium paper. All three artists we present have paper as the core of their work. Each in their own way, they show the diversity, durability and artistic depth that the material can offer.

All three artists create completely different works, but each shows the power and diversity of paper. Jeroen van Kesteren can make his wildest boyhood dreams come true with the medium by crafting airships. With Martijn Hesseling, paper is not only the material, but also the subject. He immortalises the vanishing kiosk in the most appropriate material imaginable: newspapers. By gluing newspaper cuttings over each other with varnish, Hesseling composes the image. Maayke Schuitema takes the most direct approach and uses paper as the support for her gigantic lino prints. The message she wants to convey is close to her heart and can be felt in the strong lines and large black-and-white images. With paper as the connecting factor, these artists come together in the exhibition Works of Paper.

Maayke Schuitema, Cornucopia, Linoleum print on Japanese Kozo Paper, 222 x 162 cm, Edition 3 of 5 — Maayke Schuitema, *Cornucopia*, Linoleum print on Japanese Kozo Paper, 222 x 162 cm, Edition 3 of 5

Jeroen van Kesteren dreams and fantasies give rise to airships that seem to float right out of the 19th century. À la Leonardo Da Vinci, the artist builds detailed and technical vehicles out of recycled paper, cardboard and aluminium foil. Van Kesteren meticulously combines these fragile materials into a unique and traditional structure. At Volta Basel, Van Kesteren's airships are suspended freely in space, so that they fly from their historical fantasy world into our reality.

Martijn Hesseling deals with paper in a totally different way. He zooms in on a specific form of expression of paper, namely the newspaper. With the advent of online newspapers and other online news sources, the presence of physical newspapers is declining worldwide. With it, the newsstand is also disappearing from the street scene. As a tribute to the kiosk and the paper newspaper, Hesseling makes collages. He creates his incredibly complex compositions using only newsprint and varnish, in which the kiosk is the central subject. The almost melancholic scenes convey the feeling of past glory, both sad and beautiful. Starting with a sheet of transparent plexiglass as his canvas, Hesseling builds up his works from back to front by carefully cutting and varnishing each individual element of the image.

Maayke Schuitema presents her gigantic lino prints. The lino prints were printed by hand on Kozo paper, which was published especially for her in Japan. Schuitema plays with large contrasts of light and dark in her lino prints, which are best known from advertising posters. It also fits well with her direct and exuberant way of communicating through art. Schuitema's work always contains a message, which she clearly communicates to the outside world by means of image, text and material. In her work, Schuitema addresses subjects such as Black Lives Matter, #metoo and female empowerment. The feelings and rebellion burst from the canvas!