Bram
Reijnders regards his art as an action rather than a narrative, organic,
exciting and unpredictable.
By taking well known figures and
characters out of their usual context and adding a barrage of elements from
pop culture, he renders the familiar unfamiliar, and the ordinary
extraordinary.
The first ‘action’ in his creative process
is to roam the city at night and rip posters from the walls to use as a
starting point for a new work.
Reijnders refines these thick layers
of curled paper by chopping and burning them, and uses them in conjunction
with paints and glazes to assemble his outspoken and distinctive statement
pieces. He describes these fragments as ‘urban jungle leftovers’ from
messages, information and protest from the inhabitants of the
city.
First used in France by artists associated with
nouveau réalisme, this process is known as ‘décollage’. It gained traction
with artists who, like Reijnders, wanted to hold up a multi-faceted mirror to
contemporary society to create something with an aesthetic, historical and
social value built into it at the foundation stage.
In this
way, Reijnders’ work sets up a dialogue with contemporary society,
appropriating a physical part of the cultural life of our cities and using it
alongside more traditional media to examine our approach to celebrity,
nostalgia, cultural differentiation and art itself.
Born
and still based in the Netherlands, Reijnders explored and experimented with
art from a young age. The turning point in his career came when he was
unexpectedly invited to be a guest on a national TV show, an event which
changed everything for him. After the show aired, he sold every single piece
in his studio and demand for his work soared; he has never looked
back.
“My personal influences are fed by the intensity of
abstract expressionism and the pop dimension of everyday products, news and
objects".
