BIO
I am Eelke Renschke Bekkenutte, a Dutch artist born on October 5, 1993 in Arnhem. Currently I am living and working in Lisbon. 

My work explores the question, “What is life?” and I seek to create honest visual representations of the pure experience of being alive. I have worked with various media, including painting, mixed media, sculpture, and performance. Recently I transitioned to abstract painting.

My artistic journey began during my study of photography between 2011 and 2015. While exploring the limitations of the written word and photography as truthful forms of communication, I became inspired to discover other visual languages capable of conveying life’s essence. Another transformative experience from that time, was fueled by a tour in an archive in Breda. There, I was shown a handwritten document dating back to the 600s. The energy of the hand that had penned it seemed perceptible. It felt as if life was being transferred to me from another human being. However, upon learning that the archive would be digitized, I felt a sense of petrification, fearing that the genuine, unfiltered life-energy within the document would be lost as it transitioned into the digital realm. This experience made me question the role of digitization in art and its potential impact on the purity, realness, and energy of life.

My inspirations stem from the raw, honest, and unconditioned art that children create. Through years of babysitting work, in which I was able to observe their boundless creativity, I am lately developing a technique focused on unlearning and finding 'ultimate' creative freedom. In my new series paintings “The painting that wants to break free from itself” I am experimenting with this beginning technique. I feel driven to counteract the obsession with perfection, fueled by social media and the digital world, by creating art that embraces imperfection and is made of real/tangible matter.

CV 
 

GRANTS

2019 - 2020 - Stipendium for Emerging Artists, Mondriaan Fund NL

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022 - Har Hensgens Gallery - Solo-exhibition - Vlaardingen NL 
2022 - Maaskoe Gallery - Solo-exhibtion - Rotterdam NL
2019 - Art Room Mina - Solo residency show - Amsterdam NL 
2017 - Savage Lily - Solo-exhibition - Rotterdam NL
2014 - Electron - Solo-project / exhibition - Breda NL
 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 - ‘Fluweel’ - Group-exhibition represented by Har Hensgens Gallery - Vlaardingen NL 
2022 - Empowerment woman at North Sea Jazz - Group-exhibition - Rotterdam NL
2022 - Heart Work Heroes - Openair group-exhibtion - Rotterdam NL
2021 - New Sludge|| - Group-exhibition - Rotterdam NL
2021 - Prospects and Concepts - Van Nelle Fabriek - Art Rotterdam NL
2020 - New Sludge - Group-exhibtion - Rotterdam NL
2020 - Art Room Mina - Group exhibition - Amsterdam NL
2019 - WolfART_Projectspace - Group-exhibition - ‘Nearly every thought leads to nothing - Rotterdam NL 
2019 - Glub Gusto - Event/group-exhibition - Rotterdam NL
2017 - WORM - Group-exhibition - Rotterdam NL 
2016 - Hoboken - Group-exhibition - Rotterdam NL 
2016 - KC kunstcafee - Duo-exhibition - Schiedam NL 
2016 - Hoboken - Group-exhibition - Rotterdam NL
 

RESIDENCIES

2020 - De Fabriek - Eindhoven NL
2019 - Art Room Mina - Solo residency show - Amsterdam NL

PARTICIPATION EVENTS

2021 - KeileCafe - Performance burning art ritual - Rotterdam NL 
2020 - KeileCafe - Performance burning art ritual - Rotterdam NL 
2017 - Minifest - Live painting - Rotterdam NL
2017 - Keilecafe - Live painting - Rotterdam NL
2017 - Mono - Wallpainting - Rotterdam NL

PUBLICATIONS

2023 - https://suboartmagazine.com/2023/05/14/searching-for-realness-with-eelke-renschke-bekkenutte/
2022 - NRC Uitagenda - Exhibition Maaskoe Gallery
2021 - Mondriaan Fund - https://www.mondriaanfonds.nl/pcprofiel/eelke-renschke-bekkenutte/ 
2020 - New Sludge - newsludge.nl/visitor-center
2020 - De Fabriek Eindhoven - www.defabriekeindhoven.com
2019 - Mondriaan Fund - https://www.mondriaanfonds.nl/gehonoreerd/toekenningen-werkbij
drage-jong-talent-18/
2019 - Art Room Mina - https://artroommina.nl/project/eelke-renschke-bekkenutte/
2018 - Gallery Hard//hoofd - https://hardhoofd.com/kunstenaar/eelke-renschke-bekkenutte/
2015 - HP//De tijd “The universe of Josuah” - https://www.hpdetijd.nl/2015-06-04/eindexpo-2015-eel
ke-bekkenutte/

EDUCATION

2011 - 2015 - AKV ST Joost Breda, bachelor, photography, graduated in July 2015