Year: 2022 
Material/Technique: Paper pulp mounted on wooden panel

The works in the series Poacher’s Atlas are made from paper pulp. Drawings are engraved in the pulp, referring to different skin surfaces, both of animals and humans. These engravings create a relief that is reminiscent of skinned skin or dried earth. On one hand, the works refer to compost and fungi, a reference to regeneration, a network, a common ground. On the other hand, there are references to maps of air pollution and polluted rivers. 

For the paper pulp diptych, Venema used paper found in the neighborhood Amsterdam Zuid-Oost, the surroundings of the Novartis Amsterdam office, and Dutch patient information leaflets of Novartis’ medicines. The paper waste was collected by a group of Novartis employees. While cleaning up the area around the office, the team contributed to the creation of this special artwork. Venema also found a second-hand bookshop in the area with maps, atlases, and a catalogue of old etchings of the city of Amsterdam. He cut out the trees from this catalogue, some of which might still be in the city, and made a new landscape out of them. The tree acts as a metaphor for the paper on the one hand and the indispensability for the health of humans and our planet on the other hand. Furthermore, by using these site-specific materials, an abstract portrait of a part of the city emerges.

Artist

Wouter Venema (Groningen 1985-) is a visual artist living and working in Rotterdam. After completing his Master of Arts at the Sandberg Institute, he was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. 

With a background in film, Wouter Venema is interested in the meaning of recording and capturing people, objects, moments and time. Whenever he starts a new series, Venema uses a networked way of working. He broadly researches a particular subject: he looks for stories, myths, theories, and speculations linked to a particular image or object in order to find unexpected connections.
His work has been shown in multiple art venues such as Gallery Rianne Groen Rotterdam, Solyanka Gallery Moscow, Art Rotterdam and P/////AKT Amsterdam. Venema participated in Unfair14. His work is part of the collection of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and several other private collections.