about

Michelle van Ketwich (1997, Haarlem, NL)

Artist statement

Michelle van Ketwich makes multidisciplinary works in which she materialises contemporary digital culture by executing it in traditional materials such as ceramics, plaster and paint. Here she finds tension between the material and the digital in terms of temporality; what is digital often comes and goes at rapid speed, while the material has a more eternal energy. Simultaneously, the material objects cannot always be preserved because of their fragility, while the digital seems to live eternally online or in the cloud. 

In contrast to the digital origin of the aesthetics Van Ketwich uses in her work, she takes a deliberate part in all steps and the craft of making it. Based both on digital sources, books and films she investigates, as well as personal experiences and interactions, Van Ketwich uses joyous colours, lustre and humour not only to their own effect, but also to address subjects that actually have a darker edge. This way, Van Ketwich creates a connection between the mundane and the absurd, the synthetic and the natural, and between the digital and material.

_{Text by Menno Vuister, 2021}

EXHIBITIONS

• Upcoming:
• TBA