BIOGRAPHY
EXPLORING WANDERER
Adriaan Rees (1957, Amsterdam) lives and works in China and Amsterdam. Rees is famous for his large-scale projects and assignments for public space. He makes sculptures and installations in many materials such as ceramics, bronze, glass, textiles, plaster and stone. He also works with photography and video.
When he works with clay, traces of his hands and the use of extreme power can easily be seen at the surface. He is approaching his sculptures almost as a landscape or a human body, sometimes in a sensual, sometimes in a brutal way. He is an artist who is not predictable, someone who always surprises with new ideas and approaches, a cosmopolitan artist.
Exploring wanderer, 2015
From 2000 Rees increasingly travelled to Asia, specifically to Japan, Korea and China. He is intensely affected by these cultures and settled in Jingdezhen, China where he works in his own studio among the thousands of craftsmen locally.
Tradition and innovation, humor and seriousness, monumentality and intimacy, vulnerable and tough, traditional and contemporary, religion and war, fantasy and reality. All this you can find in his sculptures: it is a dialogue between cultural traditions like Europe and Asia.
His work can be found in collections around the world, in museums, private collections and in public space. Rees teaches in The Netherlands, Germany, Finland, USA, Japan and China and frequently gives lectures about his own work, art and art in public space.
He also works as an art advisor and curator. Since 2008 he is the initiator and project leader for the Exchange project 400 years Delft – Jingdezhen. This project brings artists, designers, archaeologists and museums from both cities together. Famous are the Blue Revolution shows in museums in Delft (NL) and Jingdezhen and Donguan (CHN). The shows attracted more than 40.000 visitors in Delft, more than 80.000 in Jingdezhen and more than 200.000 in Donguan.
Rees was the curator of these shows.
1986-1991
2004
2009
Gerrit Rietveld Academy, sculpture department
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tokenomori, Institute for Ceramic Studies
Shigaraki, Japan
Inax Laboratory
Tokoname, Japan
Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2018
2017
2016
2015
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
- Museum Sculptures at the Sea, The Hague, NL
- ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China
- JIWU Art Space, Nanjing, China
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Livingstone Gallery, The Hague, NL
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Livingstone Gallery, The Hague, NL
- Van Duyse Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- City Museum, Kampen (3 locations), NL
- C&H Art Space, Amsterdam, NL
- Willy Schoots Gallery, Eindhoven, NL
- Total Museum, Seoul, Korea
- 38CC Art Lab, Delft, NL
- Art Amsterdam, Maria Chailloux Gallery, NL
- Inax Life Museums, Tokoname, Japan
- Willy Schoots Gallery, Eindhoven, NL
- Livingstone Gallery, The Hague, NL
- C-Space Beijing, Beijing, China
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Willy Schoots Gallery, Eindhoven, NL
- Livingstone Gallery, The Hague, NL
- Willy Schoots Gallery, Eindhoven, NL
- Inax Life Museums, Tokoname, Japan
- Livingstone Gallery, The Hague, NL
- Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, NL
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- RAM Gallery, Rotterdam, NL
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Embassy of the Netherlands, Tokyo, Japan
- City Museum, Zwolle, NL
- Nederlandse Gasunie, Groningen, NL
- Casco, Utrecht, NL
- Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, NL
- Van Kranendonk Gallery, The Hague, NL
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
- Royal Palace Soestdijk, Soestdijk, NL
- Schoots+Van Duyse Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
- Livingstone Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- KunstRAI Amsterdam, Livingstone Gallery, NL
- De Vis Gallery, Harlingen, NL
- Posthuys Gallery, Texel, NL
- Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, NL
- Gallery M, Landau, Germany
- Dutch Design Week, Shanghai, China
- Anningahof Sculpture Park, Zwolle, NL
- Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, NL
- RAM Gallery, Rotterdam, NL
- PAN Amsterdam, Livingstone Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
- Museum Tiendschuur, Tegelen, NL
- Anningahof Sculpture Park, Zwolle, NL
- Yuan Chonghuan Museum, Dongguan, China
- De Nederlandse Bank, Amsterdam, NL
- Schoots+Van Duyse Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
- PAN Amsterdam, Livingstone Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
- Schoots+Van Duyse Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
- Livingstone Gallery, The Hague, NL
- PAN Amsterdam, Livingstone Gallery, NL
- Prinsenhof Museum, Delft, NL
- Imperial Porcelain Museum, Jingdezhen, China
- Kaneko Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Anningahof Sculpture Park, Zwolle, NL
- Schoots+Van Duyse Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
- C&H Art Space, Amsterdam, NL
- P13 Gallery, Heidelberg, Germany
- Art Amsterdam, Livingstone Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
- Pulchri, Den Haag, NL
- PAN Amsterdam, Willy Schoots Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
- Maria Chailloux Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2003
2001
2000
1998
1997
1995
1993
- Van Duyse Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
- Maria Chailloux Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
- City Museum, Kampen, NL
- Maria Chailloux Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
- A.A.C.A. Synergy, Inax Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
- 2 Cities Gallery, Shanghai, China
- Art Cologne, Willy Schoots Gallery, Koln, Germany
- Netherlands Ceramic Museum, Fu Ping, China
- P13 Gallery, Heidelberg, Germany
- Kemp and Rees, Dordrecht, NL
- W139 Art Space, Amsterdam, NL
- MIArt, Piercarlo Borgogno Gallery, Milano, Italy
- P13 Gallery, Heidelberg, Germany
- CAFA Gallery, Beijing, China
- City Museum, Den Bosch, NL
- Garth Clark Gallery, New York City, USA
- Ceramic World Biennale, Icheon World Ceramic Centre, Korea
- Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, NL
- China Ceramic Council, Foshan, China
- Moscow Forum of Art, Moscow, Russia
- Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, NL
- RED Centre, Dordrecht, NL
- Sculpture in the Little Forest, Ranaana, Israel
- Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow, Russia
2014
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2004
2003
- Circus Svea, sculptures, Schiedam, NL
- Street lamps, Delft, NL
- The Monkey / Het Heerlijk Recht, sculpture and wall, Leiderdorp, NL
- Schoolproject, sculptures, Enkhuizen, NL
- Roundabout, roundabout sculptures, Amsterdam, NL
- Sculpture for Hoogersmilde, NL
- Hanging glass- and ceramic sculpture, Maassluis, NL
- Boom van Hippocrates, sculpture and terrazzo Bench, Amsterdam, NL
- Schoolproject, sculptures, Amsterdam, NL
- Neptunis, sculpture and landscaping, Pijnacker-Nootdorp, NL
- Carillons with bronze sculptures, Heerhugowaard, NL
- Ceramic Sculptures for Fredonia, State University of New York, USA
- Apenluiders, fountain sculpture, IJsselstein, NL
- Boog, sculpture, Aa and Hunze, NL
- Embassy of the Netherlands, sculpture, Tokyo, Japan
- Town Square, design and development, Nieuwkoop, NL
- Sculpture forest, design and development, Ursula Foundation, Nieuwkoop, NL
- Big Ear, sculpture, Raänana, Israël
- Signum Omnicalus, sculpture, Almere, NL
- De Steenhouwer, sculpture, Gouda, NL
- University of Amsterdam, sculpture and furniture, NL
- Windmill, sculpture and breadproject, Zoetermeer, NL
© Adriaan Rees, 2016-2017. All rights reserved.