ORIGINE | Daniela Schwabe
Museum Villa Mondriaan is the museum for coming-of-age. The world-famous Piet Mondriaan developed during his teenage years in this villa in Winterswijk. Besides masterpieces by the young Mondriaan, the museum displays works by both established and contemporary artists in their search for their own signature. One thing the artists have in common: like the young Mondriaan, they are all in the turbulent period of their development. This autumn Museum Villa Mondriaan presents ORIGINE, a solo exhibition by Daniela Schwabe.
Daniela Schwabe, Depart, ORIGINE series, 65 x 90 cm, oilpaint on canvas, 2023.
Origin
Piet Mondriaan (1872, Amersfoort) and Daniela Schwabe (1984, Winterswijk) both love spinach and paint flowers for a living. They have more in common than a first glance might suggest. Both artists grew up largely in Winterswijk and became interested in painting there. For the exhibition ORIGINE Daniela carried out intensive research into Mondriaan’s life and work. Her research consisted of visiting and interviewing various curators, conservators, museums and eventually his final resting place.
An unusual encounter
Daniela concludes that Mondriaan is mostly known as a rigid figure. Yet it is undeniably his perseverance and tenacity that lead him to a challenging path of innovation. Consequently, it is his way of thinking with which Daniela becomes familiar. In the summer of 2023, Daniela resides in Winterswijk, in an old factory building she often cycled past as a child. With a few months’ access to the empty first floor of the complex, Daniela returns to her origins, her ORIGINE. The listed building offered her the perfect working environment. Here, she invited artists to reflect on Mondriaan’s life and work in collaboration with her. The resulting installations are the basis of the works Daniela shows in this solo exhibition.
Picture: Erwin Kamp
Studio spaces as starting point
Few modern artists are known for being as versatile as Mondriaan. Daniela: “What characterises him is his almost boundless curiosity and tenacity. I identify very much with that curiosity. I don’t always want to keep doing the same thing either. There is nothing better than developing yourself. Right?” In his later years, Mondriaan for instance, develops a method that was new to him: his studio acts as a canvas on which he can experiment. Daniela makes this approach her own and works three-dimensionally for the first time in her career. The premise of the installation: that – in Mondriaan’s mind – it does not suggest depth. From painting to installation and vice versa from installation to flat surface. In ORIGINE, one can become acquainted with the versatility and quality in Daniela Schwabe’s work, all in a studio setting.
The exhibition ORIGINE | Daniela Schwabe can be visited from 4 November 2023 until 14 April 2024.
