Job Koelewijn (1962)
Existence is too fragile to get bogged down in, says Job Koelewijn. Now and then you need to stir things up and see things with a fresh pair of eyes. Ever since a severe car accident almost ended his own existence, Job Koelewijn never stopped stirring things up with a steady stream of installations, performances, photographs and films expressing his provocative aesthetic. In his work, he attempts to expose the fragility of life in a way that is often as surprising as it is sensitive. Koelewijn has a penchant for unorthodox materials: for example, water, bouillon cubes, baby powder, peppermint oil, green soap, vapour rub; all things that generate vitality for those wishing to experience it, but also as transient as life itself.
In his oeuvre, Koelewijn shows that the things that really matter lie beyond the realm of our control. Ideas and stories may be set out in books, but only come to life when they are read. There may be thousands upon thousands of watches and clocks on which to read the time, but time itself exists only by the grace of a worldwide agreement. Koelewijn seeks his means of expression within the power and fleeting nature of these paradoxes.
