Galerie Fons Welters - Amsterdam

Let it Come Down

Galerie Fons Welters proudly presents Jennifer Tee’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery: Let it Come Down. In the past six months, Tee has shown parts of Let it Come Down  at the Bonner Kunstverein (Bonn, DE), Camden Arts Centre (London, UK) and Kunstraum (London, UK), which emphasizes that this exhibition is part of an ongoing research. Let it Come Down refers to William Shakespeare’s seventeenth-century tragedy Macbeth. Tee recognized the notion of individual resistance against political change in this theatre play, which became the motivation for a new approach: in Let it Come Down, Tee searches for the boundaries between control, resistance and the inherent resilience that resistance asks from the individual.


Characterizing for Tee’s practice is the interplay between the occult and esoteric rituals and objects in their physical shape. Let it Come Down became the motive for Tee to explore the reciprocation between the influence of the individual on global events and vice versa, such as recent (national and international) political change. Let it Come Down functions as an answer to the feeling of powerlessness and offers solutions to become more resilient, by delving into this reciprocation through dialogue on an individual level.

The sculptural objects in the exhibition are individual art works, but also propose to be activated through performance. An important question is how the body relates to the sculptural objects in the exhibition. In Let it Come Down, Tee literally takes the space to show the importance of the performative aspect in her practice. During the length of the exhibition, there will be five separate performances. These will be performed by dancers Miri Lee and Christian Guerematchi. Through the emphasis on these performative gestures, Tee activates the gallery space. She deliberately breaks with the function of this space to present art works objectively. Instead, it becomes a space of personal experience and associations.

In addition to these performances, there will be readings from the Resist Stack of Books on unexpected moments during the exhibition. These books focus on the different forms and shapes that resistance can take, such as personal, spiritual, physical and political resistance. Color plays an important part in several of these texts, which shows that color can be related to different kinds of emotions and acts of resistance. The visitor is invited to recline on the tapestries and listen to the texts. In doing this, a dialogue is created between the physical and the imaginary space, which draws attention to the in-between state of humankind: the “Soul in Limbo”. This in-betweenness allows the visitor to explore borders between Here and There, between apparent certainties and endless possibilities.

 

 

Jennifer Tee (1973) lives and works in Amsterdam. Tee was awarded the 2015 Cobra Art Prize. In December 2017, her permanent art work “Tulip Palepai, navigating the river of the world” at the entrance of the Noord-Zuidlijn at Amsterdam Central Station that was commissioned by the Amsterdam municipal, was opened. Solo exhibitions include: The Bienal de São Paulo, (BR) (forthcoming); ISCP, New York (USA) (forthcoming); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (DE); Camden Arts Centre, London (UK); Kunstraum, London (UK); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (NL); Cobra Museum, Amstelveen (NL); Signal at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (DK); Project Art Centre Gallery Dublin (UK); Eastside Projects, Birmingham (UK); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL); The Bienal de São Paulo (BR). Her work is held in the collections of: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL); Museum De Domijnen, Sittard (NL): FRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Marseille (FR); ABN AMRO Bank (NL); De Nederlandsche Bank (Dutch National Bank) (NL); AKZO NOBEL (NL) as well as renowned private collections.

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