Magali Reus: Prix de Rome 2015: de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam

In 2015, artists Christian Nyampeta, the duo Foundland, Hedwig Houben and Magali Reus were selected for the shortlist. They created new work especially for the prize, which was on display at De Appel in Amsterdam. Visual artist Magali Reus won the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2015 for her new work Leaves.

Magali Reus

For the Prix de Rome she presents 5 new works from her series Leaves (2015). These highly detailed sculptures are derived from the complex interior mechanisms of padlocks. Stripped of their function and enlarged in scale, they are made from multiple levels of engineered metals, plastics and cast components. Revealed through their pierced casing, of one can find graphic traces of the western calendar. These  punctuations act as methods of activation: numbers, letters and months, enigmatically hint at things of emotional importance: ‘birthdays, anniversaries, deadlines, deaths’. Seeing each of these sculptures as a ‘metaphor for content just out of reach’, she comments: ‘It is this conflation of a type of simplified, graphic image of the world set against more flamboyant latent narratives that I enjoy.’

Photo by Daniel Nicolas