Willem de Rooij
Ebb Rains
11 February–25 March 201711 Feb–25 Mar 2017
#WillemdeRooij
Willem de Rooij’s expansive exhibition at the IMA reflects on the Dutch colonial presence in the Asia Pacific region and makes subtle reference to more recent instances of empire and intervention in the natural world. Rather than referring to some outside truth, the pieces in this exhibition embody meaning through their inherent material qualities. De Rooij aims to have each work communicate directly through shape, material, colour, and context. Ebb Rains is the first solo exhibition in Australia of this renowned Berlin-based Dutch artist. He is a highly influential artist and educator, through his longtime role at the respected art school, Städelschule, in Frankfurt, Germany, and a practice that spans two decades, including such prestigious acknowledgements as Prix de Rome in 1996, and representing the Netherlands at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005.
Willem de Rooij, born 1969 in Beverwijk, the Netherlands, now lives and works in Berlin, Germany. De Rooij studied art history at the University of Amsterdam and art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. He is currently Professor of Fine Art at the Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main and Guest Advisor at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam. In 2014 he was nominated for the Vincent Award, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague. Recent solo exhibitions include: Entitled (2016), MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; The Impassioned No (2015), Le Consortium, Dijon, France; Character Is Fate (2015) Witte de With, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Index: Riots, Protest, Mourning and Commemoration (2014), Arnolfini, Bristol, UK; Using Walls, Floors and Ceilings (2014), the Jewish Museum, New York, USA; Farafra (2013), Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway; Untitled (2012) at Kunstverein München, Munich; Crazy Repelled Firelight (2011), Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, USA; and Intolerance (2010) at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany.
