Ephemera — Juul Kraijer
From 01/11/2024 to 30/11/2024
Through an anthological selection of video works by Dutch visual artist Juul Kraijer, the Ephemera exhibition invites viewers to contemplate the boundaries between reality and the ethereal, creating a continuous dialogue between physical and metaphysical dimensions. Drawing from mythology and surrealism, Kraijer creates a sort of parallel world in which human beings and nature are deeply connected, challenging the boundaries of existence, between the tangible and the transcendent.
Nature and human experiences are interconnected through a poetic and evocative atmosphere, characteristic of Kraijer’s works. The public is invited to contemplate a type of immaterial beauty that is outside of ordinary perception, suggesting new possibilities for understanding the network of relationships that govern the real and the living world. The space of the Foundation becomes a window to explore the dream dimension, to dedicate oneself to training the gaze and contemplation. It is a place to slow down, find a state of deep calm and surrender to this simultaneously serene and disturbing imagery.
The spectator is involved in an olfactory experience inspired by Kraijer’s evocative universe, made possible thanks to the collaboration with Tonatto, the famous nose of Italian perfumery. Through perfume it is possible to translate the theme of metamorphosis and interconnection between living beings into a sensorial language, adding a poetic dimension that amplifies the contemplative depth of the exhibition. The fragrance becomes a bridge between vision and perception, completing the artistic narrative with an enveloping atmosphere that allows you to completely immerse yourself in the works on display.
At the opening there will be drinks curated by Sciarada with the presence of a special cocktail themed with the exhibition. The exhibition was made possible thanks to the support of the Mondriaan Fund, which covered the artist’s travel expenses for the Ephemera exhibition.
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Opening: 1 November, 6 – 9PM (Special opening hours during Artissima: November 2nd, 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM; November 3rd, 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM), Via Gaudenzio Ferrari 12b, Turin, free entry
Recontemporary aims to promote culture by establishing dialogues with international artists and institutions. Thanks to the collaboration with Monica De Cardenas, we are hosting Juul Kraijer’s first solo video exhibition on the occasion of Artissima, seeking to strengthen connections with collectors, gallerists, and art professionals visiting Turin during this event.
Ephemera is a research-based exhibition that aligns with the foundation’s goals of spreading and promoting internationally-minded exhibition projects, capable of attracting and engaging an audience of enthusiasts, providing the opportunity to engage with the work of an acclaimed artist like Juul Kraijer.
Press Kit
download ↓Juul Kraijer
Juul Kraijer was born in Assen. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, graduating in 1994 with a series of large-scale charcoal drawings. Her main mediums are drawing, photography, and collage. She occasionally creates sculptures and video works.
In Kraijer’s practice, the subject is always female, nude, and an archetype or an embodiment rather than a specific individual. This female figure sometimes multiplies: facing herself, head to head, or appears as twins or conjoined triplets. In most of the works, the human body is combined with other creatures or natural phenomena: surrounded by schools of small fish or swarms of moths, fused with branches or animal parts, or displaying mountain landscapes on the skin. Since 2012, photography has become an important medium in Kraijer’s practice. Her photographs, too, are mostly black and white and thematically closely related to her drawings. She often works with the same model, who poses with objects or animals, particularly snakes.
Kraijer’s works are characterized by an emblematic conciseness, showing nothing beyond what is strictly necessary. In each image, the figure emerges from an undefined background. There is also no definition of time. Hairstyles or clothing from specific periods are absent, and there is no hint of a narrative. The postures and facial expressions are deliberately restrained and intensely focused, as if they have been adopted for eternity. Faces and bodies act as vehicles of meaning rather than representations of individuals. The impassive face, in a state of half-consciousness, seems to exist at an interface between self-awareness and self-extinction. The images elude traditional iconography, with Kraijer creating memorably strange naturalistic images.
Her work has received four Dutch art awards and has been included in major international exhibitions such as ARS 06 at the KIASMA Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki (2006), the Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2009), and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India (2018).
Monica De Cardenas Gallery
The gallery was founded by Monica De Cardenas in Milan in 1992. From the very beginning, it collaborated with artists who have become important figures in the contemporary art scene over the years, such as German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol, English painter Chantal Joffe, English photographer Craigie Horsfield, American painter Alex Katz, Swiss artist Markus Raetz, and German photographer Thomas Struth, all represented by the gallery. Over the years, new international artists have been introduced, enriching the exhibition program, such as Benjamin Senior, Barbara Probst, and Ivan Seal. The gallery has always shown great sensitivity and interest in supporting the Italian art scene, representing artists like Claudia Losi, Linda Fregni Nagler, and Rä di Martino. More recently, collaborations with younger artists such as Lupo Borgonovo and Federico Tosi have emerged.
In December 2006, the gallery inaugurated its exhibition space in Zuoz, a Swiss village near St. Moritz, with a solo exhibition by Markus Raetz (born in Bern in 1941). The space is located in a 15th-century Engadine house. Over the years, numerous important exhibitions have been presented in the Zuoz location, including the first Swiss exhibition of Marisa Merz in 2012, who was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 2013, the significant retrospective dedicated to Gianni Colombo (1937-1993) in 2015, and more recently, in the winter of 2018, a large exhibition dedicated to Fausto Melotti, marking a moment of great international recognition and rediscovery of the artist.
Tonatto
Tonatto represents Italian excellence since 2000: the perfumery maison, is an expression of Italian style, elegance, timeless taste and innovation. Pioneering in associating perfumes to the art world with olfactory interpretations of art masterpieces, Tonatto offers a whole philosophy that can be felt. In the Tonatto atelier and laboratory in Turin, there is constant commitment to the research, uniqueness and quality. Olfactory symbolism is associated with sociology and antique techniques of haute perfumery. Tonatto is the answer to the excessively fast pace of contemporary life: more connection, more feeling, more wonder of the authentic. Tonatto's creations are characterised by an iconic identity, an Italian style and a perceptive 'personality' that makes them recognisable and distinguishable, anchored in an authentic storytelling. The formulae are linear, gentle and never aggressive. The olfactory notes sublimate and dialogue in perfect harmony. Through the deep connection of its fragrances with symbolism, nature and society, Tonatto represents a bridge to the future of perfumery: an innovative bridge, where perfumes are understood as a mean to connection, to feel, feel the environment around, the beauty and oneself inside. At Tonatto's laboratory there is a philosophy of slow perfumery where perfumes are created with attention to nature, its processes and time. All productions are m a d e internally at the maison's laboratory.
