Rembrandt Open Studio
This autumn, you can meet two contemporary artists at the Rembrandt House Museum! For two months, from 5. October until 1. December 2024, Rens Krikhaar (1982) and Neda Mirhosseini (1995) will set up their studios in one of the museum galleries and create their art, live. As early as the seventeenth century, Rembrandt’s house was a creative hub. A place where Rembrandt and his pupils made art every day. Now, 400 years later, we are bringing back this practice with Rembrandt Open Studio. Each autumn, a new generation of artists is invited to create new work at Rembrandt’s home.
Krikhaar and Mirhosseini share Rembrandt’s rich imagination. Also, like Rembrandt, both artists have a penchant for working on paper. Mirhosseini creates portraits of friends and captures their shared moments in still lifes of tables that have not yet been cleared. These drawings allow her to make any place that’s new to her familiar, and tell stories about her own life. Krikhaar, on the other hand, seeks out the unknown in his artworks. In his drawings and graphic work, we follow a seventeenth-century explorer, who sometimes encounters very unexpected things on their adventures. Krikhaar and Mirhosseini, both in their own way, invite you to explore their paper worlds.
Left: Rens Krikhaar, M’asaaf Riss expedition journal | Right: Neda Mirhosseini, Late Night Early Morning
Rens Krikhaar
The world of Rens Krikhaar (1982) consists of an archipelago with many islands. His work features giant animals, menacing mountainous regions and hallucinatory scenes, ready to be discovered. Krikhaar paints, draws and etches in dramatic light-dark contrasts an ever-growing ‘Terra Incognita’. Man is but a small shadow. Krikhaar: ‘During my working period at the Rembrandt House Museum, I hope to take visitors into my process, and further develop my own work in this special environment.’
Neda Mirhosseini
Neda Mirhosseini (born 1995) documents her daily life through drawings. She shows friendship and intimacy by zooming in on the moments and ways people come together. Portraits of her friends are accompanied by still lifes of tables that have not yet been cleared. The empty wine glasses, coffee mugs, food leftovers, plates and cutlery are the remnants of shared moments, of social connections. According to Mirhosseini, these objects possess a hushed poetry: ‘They are subtle references to the lives that take place behind closed doors.’
Rembrandt Open Studio with Rens Krikhaar and Neda Mirhosseini is on view from 5. October to 1. December 2024 in the Rembrandt House Museum.
