"Protestant Madonnas" 2019

  curated by André Groeneveld 

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20 May-16 June 2019 

Firma Van Drie

Gouda, The Netherlands

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During my recent artist residency at Sundaymorning EKWC, I evolved both artistically and professionally through the development of several projects, including the ‘Protestant Madonnas’ which I am presenting at Firma Van Drei. In the FabLab, a pre-existent model of the Madonna of Civitavecchia was scanned and then printed in 3-D. A mould of the resulting figure was created to slip-cast multiples in which the original model was subverted through modifications to produce a series of figures that assume new identities. I chose the colour orange driven by a desire to characterise the project with ‘Dutch’ attributes to render homage to a land which revealed itself both as incredibly rich culturally and historically and also indispensable in the European and international context. Having entered by chance into a religious dimension, I added the term ‘Protestant’, as an iconoclastic element to disfigure the original image of the Madonna and as a word play: Madonnas who protest, almost transforming them into Mad-donne (mad women) who negate the concept of piety and charity of the Madonna. The ‘Protestant Madonnas’ also serve as an example of pure creativity that expresses a continual impetus for regeneration and discovery of the infinite nuances of which the mysterious world of reality is composed.

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