marijn's solo exhibition in amsterdam at SMBA

From mid-September the exhibition space at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam will be annexed by the work of Marijn van Kreij. Large wall paintings, combined with drawings in various formats and styles, transform the space into a colourful, anarchistic interplay of diverse artistic forms. Central aspects of Van Kreij’s work such as appropriation, copying, citation and redefining return in this powerful three-dimensional installation which is begin staged by the artist himself under the title ‘Tomorrow is Humourless.’

Van Kreij’s art production includes drawings, paintings, photographs, objects and videos that often refer to the popular and mass culture of the 20th and 21st century. Using written and drawn symbols and forms, he shows us a world in which playfulness prevails and rules are made to be broken. One of his points of departure is the denial of any difference between the expressive power of images and words. That reveals itself in wall paintings of text fragments or drawings that at the same time appear to be notes. Examples of this can be found in the publication Marijn van Kreij - O Let it Be (2008).

Marijn van Kreij (Netherlands, b. 1978) graduated from the St. Joost Art Academy, Breda, in 2003 and in 2005/2006 worked at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. Among the awards he has received was the basic prize of the Prix de Rome, Drawings/Graphics in 2004. In 2006 he received the Uriôt Prize, which enabled him to realise his publication Marijn van Kreij - O Let It Be (Drawings, photographs and collages) in 2008. In 2007 Van Kreij’s work was also to be seen in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam as part of Drawing Typologies (Proposals for Municipal Art Acquisitions).

More information about Van Kreij and his work can be found at www.marijnvankreij.nl.