Into the wood - 2009 - 50cm 60cm - charcoal on paper

home - 2009 - 50cm 60cm - charcoal on paper

GJV - 2009 - 50cm 60cm - charcoal on paper

Couches - 2009 - 50cm 60cm - charcoal on paper

Smoking - 2009 - 50cm 60cm - charcoal on paper

Alaska - 2009 - 50cm 60cm - charcoal 0n paper

Sinterklaas - 2009 - 50cm 60cm - charcoal on paper

Drunk - 2008 - 300cm 320cm - charcoal on paper

Pjorsardalur (two times) - 2008 - 150cm 230cm - charcoal on paper

Yosemite valley - 2008 - 150cm 150cm - charcoal on paper

Bosnia- 2008 - 100cm 70cm - photography

Travelling in hollsandur - 2007 - 150cm 250cm - charcoal on paper

Man and wife - 2007 - 150cm 220cm - charcoal on paper

Oxararfoss - 2007 - 150cm 220cm - charcoal on paper

Ellidarnar - 2007 - 150cm 220cm - charcoal on paper

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Marjolijn van der Meij has in her recent work been focusing on the relationship between the man and her surroundings. Using vintage photographs as her starting point she reveals the underlying currents of social structures and group behaviour. In the big scale charcoal drawings the landscape turns into a mirror of the stagnant and overweight mental state of the humanity.
In the snap shot or souvenir type images people recline lazily on the grasses, fields and rocks in a world that has stopped moving. The curtains of waterfalls are frozen, and the people stationed in front of the curtains act as members of a soundless, lost orchestra. Clusters of people fill in the gaps in the black and white landscapes. The massive drawings seem to reveal to us that our relationship to the wonders of the world is the one of a possessor. Even in its moment of absolute beauty the nature has to submit to the gaze of our naïve eye. We possess - but we do not comprehend. In this lays the beauty and cryptic frankness of der Meijs drawings.

text by Saara Ekström

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My attention turns towards the way people behave and how they deal with the idea that human beings are not above the forces of Nature.(Romanticism)

I started to make big charcoal drawings after my residence in Reykjavik (January 2007), where I was confronted with the overwhelming forces of Nature. I use photos or postcards and force the viewer, to want to look over the edge.

My challenge is to gain a greater understanding in human behavior.

contact : marjolijn7@hotmail.com - 0031(0)642423680

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C.V.

born 1970             

Marjolijn van der Meij, de Meern, the Netherlands
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education      

1988-1993       Royal Art Academy,Den Haag
           
1993-1994       Akademia Sztuk Pieknych, Krakow, Poland
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stipendia / funding

1995      startstipendium, Fonds voor Beeldende Kunsten,Amsterdam
1996      basisstipendium
1998      basisstipendium
2001      basisstipendium
2004      O&O realiseringsbijdrage, Nederlands Fonds voor de Film
2006      Subsidie-Onderzoek & Ontwikkeling, Stroom Den Haag
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prizes

2004      top prize, 16th. Onion Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago
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screenings and exhibitions (selection)

2010      de Zwarte Ruyter,the Universal Standard, IDI, Rotterdam
          trendbeheer, art-Amsterdam

2009      Walden Affairs, Den Haag
          Forum Box, Math to masses, Helsinki, Finland
          Bed'elZe,schilderen editie #1, Den Haag

2008      Sarajevo Winter Festival, Sarajevo
          Tier + Mensch, Galeriehaus, Nurnberg
          Tears of joy, keizersgracht 132, Amsterdam
          Independance drawing gig nr.4, Den Haag
          Rotterdam VHS Festival

2007      The Thread, Koroska Gallery of Fine Arts, Slovenj Gradec
          ‘t Dwaze Licht, tekeningen 7, Quartair, Den Haag
          Lost % Found, de Waag, Amsterdam             
          From left to right, Galleri 54, Gothenburg
          International Film Festival Rotterdam

2006      Re:visie, studio CM, Utrecht
          Starting from Scratch, International Film Festival Rotterdam
          Festival International d'art video de Casablanca
          Atelier als supermedium #01, Den Haag
          Celluloid/Digitaal 5, Cinema de Balie, Amsterdam
          Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago

2005      COURTisane, Gent
          Isolacinema, Ljubljana
          Preview Berlin, Galerie West, Berlin
          Dutch Punch, Sint Petersburg
          PEK Festival, Filmhuis, Den Haag
          Stand van Zaken, stroom hcbk, Den Haag

2004      DLIGHT, Filmbank, International Film Festival Rotterdam
          Media City Festival, Windsor (CA)
          50. Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen
          International Short Filmfestival Hamburg
          Shitcluster Videoclip project, Vliegtoren, Ypenburg
          Cinematiek, Filmtheater 't Hoogt, Utrecht
          Impakt Highlights 2003
          Cineseoul, Seoul
          Bearded Child Festival, Myles Reif Center, Minnesota
          Cinematexas, Texas
          Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago
          Close Encounters Ypenburg, Den Haag

2003      Lost & Found, de Waag, Amsterdam
          Emphatic Exercise, Impakt Festival, Utrecht
          Crossing Border Festival, Schouwburg, Den Haag

2002      PEK Festival, Filmstad, Filmhuis Den Haag
          7 more wonders of the world, Galleri 54, Goteborg
          Parking Den Haag, stroom hcbk, C & A, Den Haag
          Caviadisco, GEM Museum voor actuele kunst, Den Haag
          De fantasierijke wereld der miniaturen, Keller, Den Haag

2001      RINUS, artoteek Den Haag

2000      Highlights 2000, Impakt on tour
          Filminn, Filmstad, Korzo, Den Haag
          Docu met Wolf, de bovenkamer bij Schlemmer, Den Haag 
          Mirrors, the Foundry, Londen

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publications

2010     film3 (kyü-bik film), EYE Film Institute Netherlands, p.262,263    

2005     Het onder-gewone (uitgave Stroom Den Haag) p.86,87

2004     mm2, Experimentele  film in Nederland vanaf 1960
            (uitgave Filmbank/de Balie) p.21,22