Wessel Verrijt

Dutch Artist Wessel Verrijt likes to work with used, discarded objects and materials, because they carry the traces of time, of handling and utilisation; they already contain their own stories. So how to approach clay, this apparently undefined, a-historic mass that you have to shape in some way? After an initial struggle, Verrijt befriended the clay. He organically built several large containers and relied on the firing process to transform them into a new material he would ‘find’ when the kiln door opened. The resulting shells – or perhaps pieces of armour – became part of the large ceremonial figures he made for the H3H biennial in Oosterhout, where they welcomed the visitors with their somewhat eery and yet not altogether unfriendly presence.