In modern society, it often seems like we don’t make time to stand still and reflect. In reaction to this, Jelle van Kuilenburg focuses on finding enchantment in everyday life. His phone gallery is filled with things he sees while walking on the street and fascinate him, like ceramics behind windows, working gloves, advertisements, concrete barriers, Michelin man figures on top of trucks, trash, objects left on the street, etc. These objects accidentally create fascinating compositions, which he copies and reuses to make assemblages that tell a completely new story. By doing this, he creates a portrait of our time and contemporary artifacts, combined with his personal life. His work makes viewers think about the life of the objects that surround us and rethink the anthropocentric world we live in and the traces we, consciously or unconsciously, leave behind.
After graduating from ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem in 2021 Jelle van Kuilenburg worked as a garbage man for 1,5 year as a side job and an extension of his practice. He developed a love/hate relationship with this job, and inspired by this, created a series of artworks called ‘One Man’s Trash is another Man’s Treasure’.
