She is in search of beauty, brimming with desire and incredibly time consuming. Artist Femmy Otten explores beauty through wood, plaster and paper. From these materials, she creates elegant sculptures, reminiscent of archetypal figures from Greek and Egyptian mythology, yet fresh and contemporary. Otten’s beauty flies through the air, is imperfect, solidifies in time and is heartbreakingly vulnerable. In De Ketelfactory Otten lets centaurs, fauns and hermaphrodites, but also plain noses, ears and lips pertrude from the walls of the former milk factory, or she stages them on paper.
‘ONE YEAR IN TEN’ is Femmy Otten’s first large solo exhibition; guest curator is art critic Lucette ter Borg. All but a few works installed at De Ketelfactory are new. Amongst them, her largest wound-wooden sculpture so far.
Femmy Otten
Femmy Otten (Amsterdam, 1981) studied at HISK (Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten) in Gent and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. She won the Volkskrant Art Award in 2012 and painted the official portrait of King Willem-Alexander in 2014. She took part in a number of national and international group exhibitions. Her work is represented by Fons Welters Gallery in Amsterdam.
publication
A publication is released to accompany the exhibition, featuring texts by Winnie Teschmacher and Lucette ter Borg. This publication can be ordered on this website or bought during your visit to De Ketelfactory for €5.
ketelsalon
Date: 28 May 2017
With the cooperation of: Florette Dijkstra
This ‘Ketelsalon’ has the theme of disappearance, forgetting and death in art and literature. Through artists and writers such as Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, Hito Steyerl, Gary Hill and Patricia de Martelaere, Artist and writer Dijkstra explores what it means to leave behind something permanent in a world that changes at a hysterical pace.
distillation
Date: 9 July 2017
In collaboration with: Isabelle Andriessen, Marijn van Kreij and Femmy Otten
video portrait
articles (in Dutch)
Schoonheid die vooral niet perfect is – Henny de Lange in Trouw
Kalm-aan-Liefde. Je moet maar durven – Joyce Roodnat in NRC
Schaamte als kompas – Anna van Leeuwen in de Volkskrant
De Ketelfactory; Femmy Otten – One Year in Ten – Niek Hendrix in Lost Painters
press and media (in Dutch)
Open Kaart, Pieter van der Wielen in gesprek met Femmy Otten, NPO Radio 1
De Late Avond, radiointerview met Cilia Batenburg over Femmy Otten
Femmy Otten in De Ketelfactory, reportage door Stadsomroep Schiedam