Bouke de Vries
Using his skills as a restorer his ‘exploded’ artworks reclaim broken pots after their accidental trauma. He has called it ‘the beauty of destruction’. Instead of reconstructing them, he deconstructs them. Instead of hiding the evidence of this most dramatic episode in the life of a ceramic object, he emphasises their new status, instilling new virtues, new values, and moving their stories forward.
The spaces in between the fragments become an essential part of the structures and the objects sometimes take on a cubist quality. With some works the viewer may be confused as to where the original makers of the piece stop and where the artist begins, making the work biographical and giving it new currency.
Working in London
1978-1981 Design Academy, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (3-D Design)
1981-1982 Central St. Martin’s, London (Textiles)
Also worked for Stephen Jones, John Galliano, Zandra Rhodes
Bouke de Vries has work in the following public collections:
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums, Aberdeen
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
York Art Gallery, Yorkshire
Zabludowicz Collection, London
Kasteel d’Ursel, Hingene, Belgium
The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo, Norway
Le Château de Nyon, Nyon, Switzerland
Musée Ariane, Geneva, Switzerland
Musée cantonal de design et d’arts appliques contemporains, Lausanne, Switzerland
Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
LAM, Sassenheim, The Netherlands
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA
Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Works for Sale
