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Robbie Cornelissen
The Battle (3)

2019

About the Item

Robbie Cornelissen is one of the leading contemporary draughtsmen in the Netherlands. Cornelissen has established a reputation for the monumental, architectural drawings that he has been creating since the early 1990s. In these detailed pencil drawings of libraries, waiting rooms, factory buildings, circus arenas and shopping centres he plays with transitions and connections between indoor and outdoor space. The large format of the drawings, sometimes four metres wide, almost invites the beholder to ‘enter into’ the work. Cornelissen, who initially trained as a biologist, did not start drawing until later in life, attending the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in the 1980s. He believes his background in biology has benefited his art. His work depicts ‘inner worlds’, taking the viewer on a journey through the artist’s memories and thoughts. Thanks to his knowledge of the human body, Cornelissen knows exactly how the complex cellular system inside us fits together. Though he uses this knowledge, his drawings do not refer to the human body. The spaces he depicts are mental spaces, metaphors for the human mind.
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  • Terra Nova (Space Ship)
    By Robbie Cornelissen
    Located in Montreal, Quebec
    “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein. Always working with graphite and charcoal, Robbie Cornelissen’s limited palette emphasises the stark sombre nature of his metaphysical drawings, The Undertow is his sixth solo exhibition at Art Mûr. At the centre of the exhibition hovers Terra Nova...
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Archival Paper, Pencil, Graphite

  • The Space of Absence
    By Robbie Cornelissen
    Located in Montreal, Quebec
    100 sheets of A-4 sized paper. “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein. Always workin...
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Graphite, Archival Paper, Pencil

  • Places (1)
    By Robbie Cornelissen
    Located in Montreal, Quebec
    “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein. Always working with graphite and charcoal, Robbie Cornelissen’s limited palette emphasises the stark sombre nature of his metaphysical drawings, The Undertow is his sixth solo exhibition at Art Mûr. At the centre of the exhibition hovers Terra Nova, a dark and desolate world parallel to our own. Robbie Cornelissen’s drawings, such as The Space of Absence and Thriller, seem to pull from the stop motion’s frames. Other images, made especially for The Undertow isolate key fragments; the cloud, mounds and timeless dwellings, Cornelissen’s signature technical interest. In addition to his methodical approach, Cornelissen uses the written word, scrawling and erasing terms repeatedly, in English, French, and German, these fastidious markings and exact translations leave a trace and a glitch on paper and screen. Much of his existing work includes words and phrases like “tribunal,” “myself when I am real” and “the need to disappear.” Do they identify what forms, systems and sentiments that are, or could be present? Or do they warn of what is to come? Suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body, Cornelissen’s clouds extend down to the surface, looming over Earth and Terra Nova. But are they harmless clouds, or associated with nuclear explosions? And is that the ash, dust, pollution and detritus of these invented places, the remnants of an unsustainable society, a dream factory? Or the promise of life anew? In weather forecasting, or aeromancy, the presence of clouds can promise darkness and gloom, but they can also bring cleansing. The ominous aura of the grid, an applied system and structure used by many, including draughtsmen, architects, urban planners, designers and artists to organise and sometimes classify information, is a recurring element in his work. The grid can be observed from a distant bird’s eye view, or close up, allowing Cornelissen’s large format drawings...
    Category

    2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Archival Paper, Pencil, Graphite

  • Places (2)
    By Robbie Cornelissen
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    “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein. Always working with graphite and charcoal, Ro...
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  • The Other Room (After Sugimoto)
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    With a career spanning more than three decades, Robbie Cornelissen has established himself among the leading contemporary draughtsmen in Europe. His vast and irresolute creative univ...
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  • Cloud (3)
    By Robbie Cornelissen
    Located in Montreal, Quebec
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    Category

    2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

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    Archival Paper, Graphite

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