Nick van Woert

Grimm is proud to present Body Parts, a presentation of new sculptures by Nick van Woert. This exhibition marks Van Woert’s third solo exhibition in New York and his fifth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Nick van Woert combines industrial materials, such as steel and coal slag with consumer goods like cat litter and Coca-Cola, to look at how our landscape has changed, highlighting the integration of man-made objects as a part of our natural world. For Van Woert, the materials and our means of production are a reflection of who we are. Under the surface of appearance lies the structure of material—Van Woert looks at how vernacular design uses substitutes which mimic the appearance natural materials. Each medium is imbued with shades of meaning and significance—some, such as precious stones, or plastics have the potential to manipulate or charm—these qualities can be revealed, imitated, tested and otherwise explored.

The hands on display in the front of the downstairs gallery each clutch bottles or vaporizers suggesting the existence of dislocated bodies or minds. The use of crude prosthetics in this work alludes to the disembodiment one experiences in an altered state, a kind of intoxication from consuming or ‘absorbing’ materials, such as in overstimulation, inhalation or the processes of digestion. The erasure of the body is less a disappearing act than the possibility for the viewer to project their own presence in its place.

The three sculptures bathed in blue light are a part of a recent series that centers on collections of everyday objects and elements that constitute the artist’s daily environment. Van Woert’s use of construction materials is influenced by his architectural background; he creates structures which give the prosaic an elevated form. These works are part anatomical, bringing to mind a dissected body, and part archaeological, creating a spectacle of our hobbies and proclivities. They bring the objects contained within each collection into relief, as both ludicrous and wonderful artefacts of our age.

Nick van Woert (b. 1979, Reno (US) is a Brooklyn-based artist. He received his MFA from Parsons School of Art and Design, New York (US) in 2007 and completed residencies at Zabludowicz, in Sarvisalo (FI) and at The Edward Albee Foundation in Montauk, NY (US).

His work has shown widely, both nationally and abroad, including museum exhibitions at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in The Hague (NL); Margulies Collection at the Warehouse in Miami, FL (US), MAMbo, the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna (IT); SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, GA (US), The Zabludowicz Collection, London (UK), The Philip & Muriel Berman Museum of Art in Collegeville, PA (US), Katonah Museum in Westchester County, NY (US), Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, NV (US), and at Sheppard Contemporary Gallery at the University of Nevada, Reno, NV (US). Solo gallery exhibitions include GRIMM in Amsterdam (NL) and New York, NY (US); Yvon Lambert in Paris (FR) and New York (US); L&M in Los Angeles, CA (US); Morán Morán in Los Angeles, CA (US); Patron Gallery, Chicago, IL (US).