Paris, France
Santa Fe, New Mexico
INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT PAINTINGS by Meester Wittenbols [passport painting officer]
In her first exhibitions in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and, Paris, France, Doreen Wittenbols will also undertake her first performative painting project by working from the public. Her experimental project challenges the concepts of freedom and identity.
You are invited to participate in her artistic process whereby she will attempt to produce 16 passport paintings per day, artworks that serve as part of your (future) I.D. but which also refer to the days of analog photography. Within 15 minutes, Wittenbols in her capacity as Passport Painting Officer creates, with water soluble oil paint on archival paper, an [instant], swift portrait at her migration desk.
Visitors are invited to register for an appointment per mail:
passportpaintings@gmail.com
Appointments will be scheduled at 15 minute intervals. The actual portrait will take 5 minutes or less. You can also drop in, but an appointment is preferred or you can come watch Wittenbols at work!
“The experimental aspect of this project lies in the process of painting extremely quickly and not knowing the subject. Through the initial steps in starting a painting, in employing the formal elements of art, I feel that I break down the person visually, in creating shapes and forms, light and dark. There is no time to think – no time to judge who is sitting in front of me. I will challenge myself to treat each participant equally but at the same time strive to make a good painting. Through this way of working the portraits become less specific and perhaps less private/personal but hopefully still retain individuality. The project is therefore also an exploration in my painting process”
Participants receive their Passport Painting upon a small donation (suggested 5 dollars) which covers the costs of sending the final artwork, stamped and signed by the artist herself from Santa Fe, yet, everyone is entitled to free session. Her project is inspired by the current regulation implemented in New Mexico and the United States at large that obliges residents to obtain real I.D. before October 2020.
Written by independent curator Saskia Vos
Artist: Doreen Wittenbols, a Dutch-Canadian visual artist was awarded the prestigious academic Governor-General’s medal upon graduating from the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto. Thereafter she completed her MFA at Concordia University in Montreal. After participating in two, Dutch, artist residencies, Wittenbols decided to relocate to The Netherlands and make Amsterdam home. Since 2018 she uprooted again, and is living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Santa Fe, New Mexico at NO LAND (Stranger’s Collective)
54 1/2 E. San Francisco St. #7, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
Session #1 Friday: September 27 from 16:00 – 20:00 pm
Session #2 Sunday: September 29 from 14:00 -18:00 pm
Paris, France at Atelier Néerlandais Curated by Saskia Vos
121 rue de Lille, 75007 Paris
Session #1: Sunday, October 20 from 12:30-16:00 [Note Atelier Néerlandais
is closed on Sunday but the artist will be painting passport portraits
on the ground floor in front of galerie La Custodia]
Session #2: Monday, 21 October from 11:00-15:00
Session #3: Tuesday, 22 October from 11:00-15:00
Session #4: Wednesday, 23 October from 11:00-15:00
Celebratory closing / Finissage Wednesday, 23 October from 17:00-20:00
Visitors are invited to register for an appointment per mail:
passportpaintings@gmail.com
Links:
www.doreenwittenbols.com
instagram.com/doreenwittenbols/
