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Jesse Strikwerda (1991) sees the world around him as if it were a theatrical spectacle. After all, don’t we all play one or more roles in the daily theatre of life? In one situation you might be assertive, in another you might be compliant. One moment, you politely smile at a bad joke; the next, you adopt a stern voice with your children. According to Strikwerda, we are in fact acting all the time, and subconsciously changing characters. Each day he swiftly sketches a large amounts of characters. From this abundance only a handful of characters evolve into monumental drawings. A select few go further, entering the three-dimensional space in the shape of life-sized steel sculptures. Strikwerda describes the stages his characters go through as growing pains: ‘At first the possibilities seem endless, the world is at their feet. But as they grow they take on a more permanent shape, until the lines have literally been welded together.’
For Prospects the artist gave his characters their very own stage. Their poses speak volumes: one is casually leaning back, while another ambitiously steps onto the stage. From up close the small sketch that started it all is visible in the background. So, is the sculpture then the absolute final stage? On the contrary. Just like us, Strikwerda’s characters continue to evolve every day. And that is exactly what he finds so fascinating: no matter how much we contort ourselves, can we really pretend to be anything other than we truly are?
Text: Esmee Postma
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)