The work of Rein Vollenga escapes classification, both sculptural and performative, both informed by art history and pop culture, it is paradoxically made with an assemblage of found recycled refuse, therefore each piece is unique, and unified by a flawless chemical lacquered surface. The consistent and definitive esthetic sense of the artist is still engaged with formal coincidence, opening a limitless field of interpretation, the imagination bouncing back on the refined glossy surface, evoking pleasure and nuisance. There is restrained trace of decorative and tribal art, gothic and science fiction, and a fetishistic element that participates to the self-containment of these forms.
In his first solo-exhibition, Rein Vollenga presents four freestanding sculptures and one wall mounted work. The dissolution of plinths with the art object eradicates the overused framing mechanism and curatorial conceit, different shapes and textures becoming an intrinsic part of the sculpture, mining the contextual framework represented by the gallery space. Â To insist in the pervasive ambiguity between art and its contingent context and blur the liminal space between art and life, Rein Vollenga collaborated with composer and choreographer Danilo Colonna (LVM) and performer Federica Dauri to inhale motion in the ultimate living sculpture.
Rein Vollenga is born 1979 in Geldorp and studied at the Royal academy of fine art den Bosch, The Netherlands. His works has been presented in collaboration with choregrapher Damien Jalet at the Louvre, Paris and in numerous group-exhibitions at Haus der Kunst, Munich; Kunsthall, Oslo, Mudac. Lausanne; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, as well as collaboration with fashion designers KTZ and Mugler and music performers such as Lady Gaga and Hercules & Love Affair.