Conny Groenewegen

After studying fashion and graduating as a visual artist, I spent years, fascinated by the clear line, making wall-sized drawings of landscapes with thin pencil in a format you could step into. In the next phase, the paper came off the wall and became spatial. Then, through cutouts for heads, the viewer could literally become part of the drawing. The relationship with the body, the conversion from 2D to 3D, from line to thread and vice versa is an ongoing theme in all my work: from a garment or an activist collective knitted installation around a building to a knotted balustrade.

Using a thread is like drawing. For example, in knitting, the material I work with is created from rows of interlocking loops of one continious line. Here all the loops are important, if one breaks you have a hole. This symbolizes interpersonal relationships, you cannot impose or force something on someone without causing damage. In a similar way, I engage in collaborations in which I challenge and am challenged because at least two points are needed, to see sharply and as a condition for a clear line.

In addition, my work is an invitation to look at recognizable archetypal forms in a different way with the aim of reinterpreting them. To do this, I develop unexpected materials and learn new techniques. This leads to prototypes in which I steer towards the desired form. The results are like snapshots and temporary proposals, as new insights keep emerging that lead to the next prototype. The rules are fluid and are always adjusted to the new situation, which happens in conjunction with the people I work with.