ABOUT – Jildau Nijboer

Jildau Nijboer (1994) (NL)
Based in Groningen.

Education
2020 – 2022 | FMI Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen (NL) | MFA, Painting, Cum Laude
2013 – 2018 | Academie Minerva, Groningen (NL)

Exhibitions
Upcoming summer/fall 2023 journey and artistic research in East-Europe | August 2023 residency at Akee space for culture, Aleknaiciai, LT | March 2024 George Verberg Stipend show (solo) and presentation

2023 | Arti et Amicitae, Amsterdam
2023 | Oerol, Terschelling
2023 | When Joy Prevails, Galerie Helder, Den Haag
2023 | Salon WEP, WEP projectspace, Groningen
2023 | FRAMEWORK @tschumi | Tschumipaviljoen, Groningen, artwork in public space, commission by Kunstpunt Groningen
2022 | Galerie ALTABOSCA, Gorredijk
2022 | SBK Sprouts Young Talents 2022, Loods 6 KNSM, Amsterdam
2022 | Selected Graduates, Galerie Pictura, Groningen
2022 | Graduation Show FMI Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen
2022 | RE:PRESENT, NP3 Re:Search:Gallery, Groningen
2022 | CONTOUR, galerie with tsjalling: , Groningen
2021 | Even goede vrienden, Museum Drachten, Drachten
2021 | LUNA Media Art Festival 2021, Leeuwarden, commission by Media Art Friesland
2021 | IJL, Galerie Noord, Groningen
2021 | ArtAway | artfair, Groningen
2020 | Artist’s Call, Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen
2020 | presentation and residency | Artist in Space Noordenaars, @OBE, MAF, Leeuwarden
2020 | Afslag BLV, Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen
2019 | Young Talent ArtNoord, Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen
2019 | Aanwas V, Galerie Noord, Groningen
2018| IJzingwekkend, Kunsthal 45, Den Helder
2018 | Winter Art Show, SBK KNSM, Amsterdam
2018 | SBK Sprouts Young Talents 2018, Loods 6 KNSM, Amsterdam
2018 | Jong Talent 2018, Artphy, Onstwedde
2018 | Nieuwe Oogst, Afslag BLV – Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen
2018 | Headliners, Graduation Show, de Oude Suikerfabriek, Groningen
2018 | One-day-artist-in-residence, at Drents Museum, Assen
2018 | Tiny Art Exhibition, LivingGallery, Groningen
2016 | De vierde verdieping, Groningen

Other
2020-2023 | Guest lecturer at Minerva Art Academy, Groningen
2022 | Guest lecturer at JAM, Minerva Art Academy, Groningen

Text by Elisabetta Cuccaro, art critic, writer and curator based in Milan

Nijboer’s work builds upon the nature of passage and exchange, addressing that which lies between things and the energy passing through. Specifically, what becomes central is the relational aspect of perception – less the interplay of forms and more the movement that surrounds them. Her work shows what happens between and within elements, and the dialogue established has an openness – multiperspectivism- that invites free interpretations. Forms hint at the possible event behind them. In Nijboer’s practice, encounters – with things or people- are materials, and yet, materials also provide an occasion for these new encounters to happen. This twofold relation carries the type of ambiguity the artist is interested in: a switch, at once responsive and ductile, distinctive and undefined.

Nijboer’s game of forms and materiality engenders an unspoken reflection on the perceptual aspects of representation. Surfaces appear as a theatre for conversations between mirrors, or better between reflections, in all of the term’s semantic ambiguity. Thoughts and illusions merge, giving rise to a recursive play that seems never-ending. Still, the materiality involved in the process anchors the experience of both creation and reception; it offers a stable frame, something vital for not losing touch with reality. Inherently, any possible notion or perspective can only be named from the nameless existence of things.