while being removed from it
by the reality of the painting material,
leading me into the unknown.
About the social and individual
About the emotional and rational
About places and consciousness
Reading literature listening to sound feeling rhythms
of all of them
Working on Beauty
Working on the soul in the age of rage
Ellen Rf_
2025
Het recente tekenen ‘stuurt me het bos
in’.
Het bos ervaar ik als bezield.
Wij zijn natuur.
We bewegen en veroorzaken
beweging.
We worden opgevoed om onze emoties te bedwingen
dan wel te tonen.
We acteren, voelen, ondergaan,
pionieren en normeren.
We noemen dat expressie, inspiratie,
angst, geluk of het lot.
We bezweren onze angsten met kunst,
religie en hoop
Als ik begin aan een tekening heb ik geen
beeld voor ogen. Ik wil elke lijn die ik traag zet als afzonderlijk beeld zien.
Ik wil elke snelle beweging met het portlood of penseel voelen als zette ik blind
een tag. Deze afwisseling maakt van het tekenproces een avontuur. Ik ga hier
het gevaar niet uit de weg.
Het begint met zin in de tekenbeweging.
Zoals zin om te wandelen, dansen of zwemmen. Zo kan ik zin hebben een tekening
te beginnen.
Als ik wandel dan ontmoet en voel ik de
natuur, bij dans de ander, zwemmend in de stroming word ik gedragen door water.
Ik ontmoet in de wordende tekening
steeds meer andere lijnen en kleurvlekken, vlakken. De lijnen en vlakken worden
personages of natuur entiteiten, ik zie landschappen, portretten en scènes als in
een trage film ontstaan, meestal op een transendentaal moment waardoor het niet
duidelijk is wat je nu eigenlijk ziet.
Psychologische associaties geven
emoties een gezicht.
Portretten van scènes. #portraits_seen_in_a_landscape
Ik teken ernaartoe en huiver want voel
een onmetelijke met ervaringen gevulde ruimte in mijn hoofd.
Het tekenspel kantelt naar ernst op
zoek naar schoonheid, naar bezwering.
Tot slot het risico van lukken of mislukken, zoals het weer kan omslaan kan beheerst tekenen plots overgaan
in krassen, als een acceleratie om de scheppingsenergie te voelen en de
onwaarheid van de controle te ontmaskeren.
Soms lukt dat en soms niet. Een tekening wordt het
altijd.
Erf_
2015, 2013, 2021
2009, 2023, 2023
2025
ENG
What and how do I create, what do I show for?
We can ask these questions afterwards, after the making.
The fact that I create and
show is there as nature, the planet, or as the universe is.
The ‘how’ is influenced by my experience of life, is affected
my emotional (moral) condition and culture I grew up in.
I let my ‘how’ be influenced by the material
(paint, other means) and the place (indoor or outdoor) the location (urban or
rural) and the situation (art institution, non-art organization or public).
Human relationships, creations, behaviour and religion have always interested
me. So has our behaviour of that which
the planet offers us.
Materials that I once found or purchased, I find it
difficult to distance myself from. If a paper has been previously reworked for
an installation that is disassembled again after an exhibition, I can rework
and repurpose the parts in a subsequent installation. Thus, paper can be a
material on which an image appears and afterwards or before it may have had a
protective function for a floor (stucloper, cardboard). I see materials like my body, my body can make
dinner, creating an artwork, do collaboration activities, my body can give birth.
The difference: the paper has no choice, it’s my choice to rework it or throw
it away. That gives me a responsibility. In my art I want to be aware of the
feeling of responsibility.
A rich colour palette and
various appearances/ figurative or abstract, compositions that express
movement, different performative presentations are characteristic of my work
and correspond to the way I deal in life with experiences, accumulated
knowledge and new insights.
In the past 2 years I have started to work more on
paper. Drawing is a technique and process that corresponds to a need in which I
express my thought and
emotional experiences.
Over the past 2 years I have begun to work more and more on paper. Drawing is a technique and process that can organize my thoughts, slowly drawing line after
line, slowly alternating with quick shading in a different way than other expressions.
My (female) body is part of the source material from
which I create my drawings, paintings or installations. The latest knowledge
(research into science) and insights (due to turbulence in the world) are
sources for me through which new images arise. Portraits of life and how life
presents itself to you will continue to be made. Deeper fundamental truths I
want to draw to the surface.
Ellen Rodenberg
2020 - 2025
NL
Over de tekenschriften
Ik werk in deze tekenschriften om achter mijn gedachten te geraken.
Welke invloeden van buiten en binnen in mijn lichaam laten (emotionele) sporen
na die ik me niet direct bewust ben maar mogelijk wel in het tekenen en
schrijven toon? Toch is dat niet de enige reden.
Tekenend, tekens makend of met woorden spelend zie ik de bladzijde
van het tekenboek vollopen.
De behoefte om te tekenen is geen vraag maar een gesteldheid. Het is
er.
Door te doen kwam ik erachter dat het tekenen en schrijven over ‘dit
doen’, de opgaaf is die ik me heb gesteld.
Aan tekeningen en schrijfsels kan ik aflezen waar ik mezelf niet
ken. Systemen laten mij dingen doen waar ik me over verbaas. Ik vraag me af
waardoor ik ben beïnvloed en of zich dat in tekenschrift laat aflezen.
Ik teken of schrijf naar aanleiding van wat er in me opkomt. De
plek en locatie kunnen van invloed zijn, gebeurtenissen of gehoorde verhalen doen
mij aan een nieuwe bladzijde in het boek beginnen.
Ik gebruik bewust een klein formaat boek (ongeveer 20x30cm) wat samen
met een etui vol met verschillende tekenmaterialen overal mee naartoe kan.
Altijd nieuwsgierig naar hoe de wereld
zich aan me voordoet. En wat dat met anderen en mij doet.
ENG
About the drawing-writings
I work in these drawing
notebooks to get behind my thoughts. What influences from outside and inside my
body leave (emotional) traces that I am not directly aware of but possibly show
in drawing and writing? Yet that is not the only reason.
Drawing, making signs or
playing with words, I see the page of the drawing book being filled.
The need to draw is not a
question but a condition. It is there.
By doing, I found that
drawing and writing about “doing this,” is the task I set myself.
From drawings and writing I
can read where I don't know myself. Systems make me do things that amaze me. I
wonder what I am influenced by and if that can be read in the drawing-writings.
I draw or write in response
to what comes to mind. Place and location can be influential, events or stories
heard make me start a new page in the book.
I deliberately use a small
size book (about 20x30cm) which together with a pencil case full of different
drawing materials can go anywhere.
Always curious about how the
world presents itself to me. And what that does to others and me.
Erf_
2014
In her artwork Ellen Rodenberg gives both a differential as well as an apt
dynamic picture of her progress. Initially the artist was self-taught and
subsequently she continued at the Koninklijke Academie in Den Haag to obtain her Degree in Fine Art over
a two-year period. Besides paintings she also makes three-dimensional
installations and videos; which have been frequently
used in music performances in the The Hague
underground scene where her videos have been shown as a part of the overall
programme. This broad range of activities appears to have consistently
contributed to a painterly development, which has lead to an interesting new body of work. In the
paintings the previous formal characteristics continue to prevail; they have
been divided in four squares. In the four forms a different approach is used,
but throughout this approach in all four the same subject or motif flows…
http://rdpauw.blogspot.nl/2013/04/ellen-rodenberg.html
2010
The dynamics
of Ellen
Rodenberg
In her artwork Ellen Rodenberg gives both a differential as well as an
apt dynamic picture of her progress.
Initially the artist was self-taught and subsequently she continued at
the Koninklijke Academie in
Den Haag to obtain her Degree in Fine Art over a two-year period.
Besides paintings she also makes three-dimensional installations and videos; which have been frequently used in music
performances in the The Hague underground scene where
her videos have been shown as a part of the overall programme.
This broad range of activities appears to have consistently contributed
to a painterly development, which has lead
to an interesting new body of work. In the paintings the previous formal
characteristics continue to prevail; they have been divided in four squares. In
the four forms a different approach is used, but throughout this approach in
all four the same subject or motif flows.
This subject is recognizable at times, at times only partially and in a
few works it disappears from sight altogether enabling
the painting to become a complete abstract geometric canvas although through the transparent layers of paint it is still
possible to detect a suggestion of the original subject matter. In some instances the subject matter deals with landscapes in which
the spatial referential remains. For instance: in a recent canvas the
landscape is divided in four sections unto which a disco ball is painted, which
in itself has again been divided in four different
sections and through this process the disco ball acts as a repository. If one wonders what exactly is going on here the fist
thing that becomes apparent that the internally divided and at times faded
landscapes are an important and informative element in her work;
as memories partially faded and tinted.
On the other hand these elements have been
sufficiently incorporated that the painting can be seen as an autonomous
abstract work. The cross, which divides the canvas, forms an important part in
the whole picture; the four approaches, separations appear as an integral part
of the canvas and structure and thereby further support each other’s
context. The more flat painted canvasses strongly
suggest the flag motif and its suggestive countenance makes it an important
theme in the artists work.
Ellen Rodenberg has also discovered a third dimension to her work; the
need to investigate her concerns with other means at her disposal such as
making installations out of Styrofoam and in which she employs toys, photo’s and small dolls to make
these spaces dynamic. Photographs made of these installations can act again as
a source of inspiration for new paintings.
In 2004 the artist began a web log ‘MULTI-IMPRESSIELOG’ where she noted
personal observations and experiences and in doing so positioned herself in a different manner in the art world.
.
In the new studio in de DCR a number of things
took place in the development and progress of her work. In the paintings a
concentration unto two subject matters takes place. Firstly
a number of used motifs in the work are erased and in doing so these abstract
elements used in the process strengthen themselves
The abstract elements flowing out of the motifs are used in rhythmic patterns
and again in these paintings the aforementioned characteristics emerge: the
canvasses are colourful, contain depth are dynamic and contain a
confrontation of different picturorial elements. Conflicting ideas move and collide in the pictorial space.
Following a residency in her Cemeti
Art Centre in Djokyakarta in
Indonesia organised by HEDEN in 2008 Ellen Rodenberg began to use a new
discipline: besides photography and making studies she began to make videos to
record her observations and noticed how important national identity is in
Indonesia. This identity is confirmed in public spaces through symbols as well
as the public’s
behaviour. This gave Rodenberg the idea to return to her theme
of flags. She began to make
fictitious flags containing four equal colour fields. In the first instance the flags were sown together using textiles and
displayed in various public venues. She further decided to use them as
projection screens and was surprised by the result as the projected video’s
appeared in a filtered coloured
light. They resembled fragments of memory as they surface in our minds. Back in
The Netherlands she further experimented with this subject matter and edits
found synchronised sound. This leads to numerous collaborations and
public performances with sound artists.
Photographs taken from the video projections emerge subsequently as a
source of inspiration for work to follow. Paintings with text and in a flag pattern suggest memory; filtered, coloured and fragmented. Simultaneously the paintings are
completely abstract and the flag motif adds to its
autonomous identity. The way in which they are worked out refers to Modernism and even further to formalistic work. This
explorative way of working is extended in the current series: the separating
cross moves across the surface and in doing so it causes the divided surfaces
to become asymmetrical.
You could surmise and say that Ellen Rodenberg would like
to be called a painter whose idea’s
are formulated and executed in multiple and dynamic ways. She develops her ideas and themes in a constant state of flux and
motion and through experimenting with all sorts of different media and
techniques. The confrontation of her work with work done by others and her own
by form a continuous challenge in her work practise. The paintings which emerge out of this process balance on the edge of
figuration and abstraction which equally occurred at the time of the
transitional stage of Modernism: the tension found in the opposites and the
energetic research by the artist are visible in the strength of the paintings by Ellen Rodenberg.
Adaptation Ineke Van der Wal
Taken from the original text by Kees Koomen of October 2010.
2008
Following a Trail, Creating
Texture
I don’t think Ellen Rodenberg is just playing
with the dozens of objects she collected during her residency in Jogja, after I
observed the way how she arranges the various plastic toys, such as toy
soldiers, tanks, cars, motorcycles, trees, flags, etc., on her worktable. Her
methods recall the joys of a child in selecting whatever she likes and placing
them into positions. This, collecting various objects that caught her fancy,
was the first thing Ellen did upon arriving in Jogja.
It was interesting when
Ellen, an artist born in Amsterdam in 1955, shared her worktable with her
children. It is probable that we, adults, would be annoyed with sharing the
space, because the objects Ellen collected were similar to
her children’s toys. However, Ellen partitioned the table, drawing a clear
boundary between her children’s playing area and her own art space. This proves
she was not just playing, as she was busy arranging and rearranging,
repositioning the various objects, while trying to identify them and understand
their symbols and meanings. Ellen is currently conducting historical research
on these objects that she will present as footnotes. There is a deep conviction
to follow the history of these objects. For instance, the swastika is a Nazi
symbol associated with the terrifying and oppressive Hitler regime. However,
this is not the symbol’s meaning for which Ellen is searching; rather, she is
focusing on the other meanings and relevancies that developed and are used in
other contexts. The swastika is also a devotional symbol for the Hindus. These
contrasting and contradictory meanings become the base for Ellen’s research.
She focuses her attention on the diverse perspectives of a symbol. In essence,
she wants to prove that any one symbol does not belong to any specific group,
language, or discourse, but rather a symbol can have different meanings, uses
and rites in different contexts. Ellen’s background in painting explains how
she views these objects in two and three dimensions.
At this point, I see Ellen’s
unique artistic language. I think her experience in conducting this unusual
exploration provides a valuable opportunity to witness the process behind a
final product. The stability of painting conventions that represent two dimensions
on a canvas seem to be shattered by Ellen’s exploration process. For her,
process represents the basic foundation of the final
product. She demonstrates how a miniature landscape of flags must be seen from
two visual aspects, i.e., flat and three-dimensional. Ellen’s artworks are
explorations of thought and intuition, a balance between mind and soul.
Sometimes, she intuitively seizes objects she finds without needing any
previous intense contemplation.
The final result of this process is an installation in the Cemeti Art House exhibition space. This is Ellen’s
painting. Not a two-dimensional painting, but one with volume that fills the
space. Various compositions of objects are spread out; some in miniature form,
others that have been magnified. Dragon Ball, as a hero from a Japanese comic
series, is present in life-size form, in the four corners of the simulation
arena. The Dragon Ball character and a number of other
objects were chosen because they are cartoon figures and are associated with
strength or can be perceived as metaphors of authority.
This Landing Soon #7 project
has enticed Ellen to become familiar with, understand, or,
to be more specific, play, with the similarities and differences of cultural
symbols. Three months is too short to understand the cultural milieu of
Yogyakarta, as the heart of the Mataram kingdom,
which has a long history in the crossroads of Javanese traditions, diverse
religions and the formation of a modern society. Of course, one of the unique
features is how the colonial Dutch presence in the past remains in buildings,
language and various cultural practices. Ellen is aware of this past from the
Netherlands, a European country that has complex history. Differences,
similarities and various relationships in the past form a kind of collective
memory that can be recalled, forgotten, or become a symbol ready to be
deconstructed. These symbols may at one time have been sacred signs of
reverence and nobility, but now have assumed totally opposite meanings. Symbols
are the most articulate signs of a perspective or ideology. The use of symbols
in society represents a kind of undivided bond. The presence of these symbols
is a way of identifying and marking an existence. The need for the presence of
these symbols is as old as humanity, homo symbolicum.
During the period of her
residency in Jogja, Ellen became aware that following the trails of symbols was
one way to get to know a new place, space and culture – both universal symbols,
such as the popular Dragon Ball, who everyone knows, regardless of territorial
boundaries and national ideologies, as well as symbols used actively in local
contexts in Yogyakarta.
This can be seen in the
documentary photos and videos Ellen recorded of various monuments, landscapes,
plants, animals, and people that she felt were potentially both similar and
different. This recording process took place not only in Yogyakarta, but also
when she visited and made presentations in Solo and Semarang. Symbols, in the
context of Ellen’s search, are like a spider’s web. The symbols exist in a
structure and are experienced culturally. One symbol is like a footnote for a
supra-structure. I think Ellen stops here. She guides us to the face of this
symbolic structure. Perhaps “symbolic texture” is more accurate. As texture, it
becomes a composition. We can see this in a number of
two-dimensional painting fields, where colors and
lines form specific symbolic contours. What is Ellen searching for through this
long process that involves interpretation and duplication of various signs? I
think Ellen is one who ponders.
Beneath her methods in
learning about a new place and culture, there is another underlying process, as
if she wants to redefine herself as a “new symbol” in various forms of language
play that are constantly in the process of evolving
A.
Sujud Dartanto 2008
(text: Landing Soon #7 catalogue)
2002
Kunstbeeld 2002