Exhibition of World Women 2019
Two drawings on canvas.
With world women, I think of the inequality of structures of society and consciousness.
To hold on to you as a man … no, as a woman. Jeanne d’Arc or Jeanne Hachette. I think of militancy, courage to dare, to have no choice. Knowing your own way what to achieve with an inner strength compass dare to stand out above ground level. To be forever and ever. Women, world women, getting out of oblivion, remembering is not enough. Bringing to life, as an ode to strong, fearless women.
Exposition Woman on Drift 2018
Woman on Drift:
Exposition Woman on Drift 2018
Woman on drift- portraits
I was inspired by the facial expressions of refugees who are adrift.
Woman on Drift:
Always on the road,
looking for a place of your own.
My grandmother came on her moped at the age of eighteen
through Leipzig to the Netherlands, Amsterdam.
My mother came as a child 3 years later,
from a Berlin orphanage.
She was not an orphan, but grew up there.
Want to end up in a different culture?
What does that mean?
Feeling displaced?
You have a different identity, shaped by the background,
and tries to understand your environment from there.
You connect yourself,
but can that other environment understand you?
Who are you?
What keeps your identity together?
What belongs to you, who are you?
“You are so different” it is said.
Exhibition 2017 solo
Opening speech by Ewoud Broeksma
Thank you for inviting me to speak here about the work of artist and sculptor Marianne Jansen.
I have known Marianne for over 10 years, when we were both looking for studio space in the city of Groningen. At a meeting of a club named COB 10, named after Bloemsingel no. 10 where the former University of Groningen chemistry laboratory was located and which was now for sale, we, as interested parties, were also involved with ideas for implementation and exploitation.
It turned out to be nothing for us or the group around us, it became far too luxurious again, complete with real estate agents, a large bank that was still scattering money at the time and an architectural firm, under the slogans “Good for your pension”, and “Join us buy a studio”.
It was the basis of what would later be called “The Palace”. The times would change considerably in 2008 and beyond. Somewhere this period created a bond between the sculptor and the photographer.
Marianne has an infectious active attitude, a very powerful present woman speaking in small sentences as it comes to her, sometimes curtly, but with whom you can laugh a lot. Let me put it that way: then you no longer need an amplifier.
When she was offered a large studio space in the center of Groningen by an anti-squat agency, I could also get a part of it. The Groninger Forum is now being built on this site, in the heart of the city. The former hotel school in the city of Groningen has also been her place, I think it is an empty building now. Countless times we helped each other move.
Why I am telling this: the material connection between artists is still fundamental even though you practice different disciplines and within that also different styles. Standing strong together, especially as individual artists can bring benefits, whether it has to be a Palace or just a sturdy concrete studio of 200m2 in Grijpskerk.
Marianne’s talent was discovered early, before being accepted at the Minerva Academy. “You are already an artist” it was said, reading the drawings and putting down a composition. That was considered to be very mature and also as own. I can only confirm that. However, it did not stop with drawings alone. She mastered the difficult and literally laborious art of sculpture. Uniqueness also in the recognisability of her work and once compared to that of the South American sculptor Francisco Zuniga, who also uses many human forms and makes bulky objects in sculpturing people.
I still remember that I showed a photo of a well-built sporty young man and asked if she was looking for a model. No, he liked to pose and for nothing, for example, a drawing would suffice. He was very happy with it, I heard later, and once in the studio I immediately recognized the sculpture she had made of him.
Everyone in Friesland may still remember the year of “Simmer 2000” in which Frisians from all over the world came together in this province. The cow as a symbol could be seen everywhere, life-size made of plastic, countless artists had painted 2000 of these. You see them sometimes here and there. I thought about that for a while when I recently saw those fat fat pig statues and molds again in Marianne’s studio, but I don’t mean anything else.I have to say the following about this exhibition, because the drawings and paintings were also new to me, even though they were made some time ago. Because in fact I mainly knew Marianne’s sculptures, and only saw the drawings as preliminary studies, even just “scraps” until I recently saw some framed drawings and paintings of her. “I never thought about it this way, but it is very beautiful,” I said. And it’s finished. Fortunately, Andries and Gerhild from this gallery have now presented these discoveries alongside various other work so that you literally get a sincere picture.
But Marianne does more than what you see here now. She is tirelessly enthusiastic about passing on her knowledge to interested parties. Not only technical knowledge but also the expression of one’s own knowledge and fantasy is important in the workshops she gives in her studio. They are highly recommended. Because what could be more fun than creating “something” from nothing on paper or otherwise. Proof of this can be viewed from now here in this Galerie Bloemrijk Vertrouwen.
I wish you a lot of pleasure and Gerhild, Andries and of course Marianne good luck with this special exhibition!
Ewoud Broeksma, 11 June 2017