about

Born:

March 16-1968, Hurwenen, the Netherlands

Education:

Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam

‘Everything of value is defenceless’ – Lucebert

‘When I was young I made a miniature treasure trove fit in a matchbox,

my secret little world that I could keep close to me ’.

‘My fantasy beings are an essential view of the existing world .’

The work of Jopie Biesters consists of meticulous objects, ingenious kinetic sculptures and photographs in which animals (both taxidermy and artificial) are given a new life with human characteristics.

She works out her creations with great precision. A magnifying glass is sometimes needed to see all the details. By creating recognisable situations or assigning human characteristics to the vulnerable, she sees herself as an interpreter between the human world and the world of the defenceless.

Jopie Biesters works with different kind of materials and is inspired by things she collects by herself, eg.old utensils that, according to her, already have a soul.

While many see the discarded animals or skeletons as emotionless or expressionless, she lets the animals and materials tell their story in an intuitive way. ‘I am playing child again and from that childish innocence I give the animals a second life in a naive and loving way’. The work thus become self-portraits of her inner world.

With great patience and surgical precision, insects get prostheses, new eyes and other limbs. The created creatures not only elict a smile, but also invite one for reflection.

We live in a world where devastating power of human industrialisation and consumption are visible everywhere. Disposable plastic products are alarmingly becoming part of the nature. We all know those distressing images of sea turtles entangled in plastic six-pack beer packs or the plastic-filled guts of seagulls or fishes. Jopie Biesters deals with the current issues with het wondrous work.