Wieteke Heldens’ practice involves the creation of rule-based systems specific to each work or series. She combines the concept and rule of the algorithm and executes it through forms and compositions that are organic, self-generating, and have the unmistakable mark of the human hand. A seemingly chaotic world is met with distinctive order in works that formulate their own ontology. Heldens graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 2007. Her work has been shown internationally, including at Kunstmuseum Den Haag and in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, South Korea, Japan, and the United States. She has participated in artist residencies in China, Italy, and New York. In 2013, Heldens won the Royal Award for Modern Painting in the Netherlands and is a recipient of a Stipend for Established Artists of the Mondriaan Fund. Heldens lives and works in Long Island City, New York.

Large abstract painting with broad green, violet, white, and blue brushstrokes and numerous small numbered labels attached across the surface.

8kg, Mixed Medium on Canvas, 141 x 169 cm, 2022

Video still showing a person carrying a large rectangular canvas along a city sidewalk.

8kg from studio to gallery, Digital Video / NFT, 29:25 minutes, 2023

Tall abstract painting in green, pale blue, white, and peach, covered with small numbered labels and thin vertical paint drips.

9 kg, Mixed Medium on Canvas, 222 x 111 cm, 2022

Installation detail showing several smartphones mounted horizontally on a white wall, each displaying a tiny colored square, with charging cords trailing downward.

Green is a healing color / Green doesn’t sell, 111 1x1 pixels on 11 iPhones, cords, 2022

Wide installation view of eleven smartphones distributed across a white wall, connected by long charging cables that converge at an electrical outlet.

Green is a healing color / Green doesn’t sell, 111 1x1 pixels on 11 iPhones, cords, 2022

Video installation showing a close-up of a hand using a small tool to make a mark on the surface of a pale canvas.

It’s Like You Know, Digital Video / NFT, 9:36 minutes, 2021

Abstract painting on a pale ground with repeated wavy grooves, dark blue and gray lines, green and black circular forms, and a large blue brushstroke.

It's Like, You Know (non toxic), 90 x 108 cm, 2021

White canvas filled with individually numbered painted marks and color swatches in red, yellow, blue, green, black, gray, orange, and pastel tones.

The Legend, Mixed Media on Canvas, 108 x 90 cm, 2020

Long horizontal white painting covered with many small colored brushstrokes, marks, and numbered notations distributed across its surface.

The Legend, 99 x 333 cm, 39 x 131 inches, 2020

Mostly blank white canvas bordered on all four sides by a dense sequence of colorful painted marks and swatches.

Whatever, Mixed Media on Canvas, 90 x 108 cm, 2020

EDUCATION

2007–09 DNA, Post Graduate, The Hague, The Netherlands
2003–07 Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
VOLTA, Art Gallery O-68, New York

2019
Drawing Online, GalleryViewer / Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2018
“ ” (quote, unquote), Flux Factory, New York

2017
With Colored Content, Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Bringing the Content Back, Flux Factory, New York

2016
With Colored Content, Fusion Art Gallery, Turin, Italy
Once upon a line, Flux Factory, New York

2015
Painting, Painthing and Paintthing (the verbs), Flux Factory, New York

2014
Wieteke Heldens, Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
Order of Operations, Lydian Stater, Queens, NY

2022
In Good Company, Lydian Stater, New York
Chronic Stillness, Lydian Stater, New York
A Room of One's Own, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2021
Survival Tools for the Age of Ultra Anxiety, Plaxall Gallery, New York
Boundary & Dislocation, Schema Art Museum, Cheongju, South Korea

2020
The Sky is Blue Like an Orange, ISCP, New York
How the Land Lies, Sirius Arts Centre, Cork, Ireland
Touch, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York

2019
London Art Fair, O-68 Gallery, London, UK
Talk Back, Flux Factory, New York

RESIDENCIES

2020–22 ISCP, Brooklyn, New York
2017–19 Flux Factory, Queens, New York
2016 Fusion Art Gallery, Turin, Italy
2011 Flux Factory, Queens, New York
2010 Coup De Ville, Artist Village, St. Niklaas, Belgium
2009 Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China

GRANTS & AWARDS

2022 Wynn Newhouse Award, Winner
2021 New York City Artist Corps
2019–22 Mondriaan Fund, Stipend for Established Artist
2018 Mondriaan Fund, Project Subsidy
2017 O-68 Award, Winner
2016 Strabag Art Award International, Nomination
2013 Royal Award for Painting, Winner

COLLECTIONS

Flux Factory, New York
Heden, The Hague, The Netherlands
LAM Museum, Lisse, The Netherlands
Warp, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
Schema Art Museum, Cheongju, South Korea

INTERVIEWS

Arranging Tangerines Episode 17 - A Conversation with Wieteke Heldens Part 1
Arranging Tangerines Episode 18 - A Conversation with Wieteke Heldens Part 2

WEBSITE: www.wietekeheldens.com

 

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