Bart Nijboer
Bart Nijboer (born 1990) creates dynamic sculptures and images trough which he explores the relationship between the human and nature. The experience of material, perception of the world, and the physical human condition come together in the dynamic sculptures that he creates. The human body serves as our benchmark for measuring the world. Trough this the naked human body is portrayed as pure, natural, elemental, and rational. In his words: “The experience of the world -however strange- cannot be seen as separate from our own body”
Nijboer exhibits his work both nationally and internationally. In 2014, he completed his Fine Arts studies at ArtEZ Academy of Fine Arts in Arnhem, where his current studio is also located. His work Naked Skin is on display in the permanent collection of the Het Depot sculpture gallery in Wageningen, and several of his sculptures can be seen in public outdoor spaces. Nijboer has received two grants from the Mondriaan Fund to further develop his artistic practice.
Inside Dance
2025
steel, stainlessteel
As a complex organism, we are present in the world. Part of it, yet also separated by our thoughts. We analyze what our body tells us. We mirror what we recognize. We measure ourselves against our environment. Yet, we are not separate. Substances, cells, and bacteria are constantly exchanged with our environment. We change and react to everything our body encounters.
The work depicts the body as an organism, as part of nature, separated from the outside world by our skin and our rational thoughts. It breaches two worlds, just as it breaches the surface of water. The white curving lines refer to water dripping off, but at the same time building up the human figure. It questions who we are within the soft skin and beyond our rational thoughts.
Dive (Male)
2025
31x33x7cm
paper, metal wire, elektronic motor
€ 950,-
Dive (woman)
2025
40x55x7cm
paper, metal wire, elektronic motor
€ 950,-
Rivers of crystals flow within the mountain.
Rivers of crystals, metals and minerals.
Mountains filled with the materials we use to build computers. To control electricity and communicate wireless trough the electromagnetic waves in the air.
I reach out my hand, and feel the cold rocks dripping with water. Wet, cold, and slippery with algae. I feel the sharp edges where the water has split the stones. Crumbling the surface bit by bit. As I run my hands along the rock, I think about how immense much this mountain holds within. It is vast and impenetrable. What lies hidden within the rock will likely stay hidden till long after I’m gone. Within this rock lies a world that I as a human cannot enter. But the water does not take no for an answer. It caves, and crack, and scrapes, seeking a way in. It swallows minerals as it go’s, and melts them into thundering rivers. What the water manages to extract will travel the world. And when I drink the water, perhaps it becomes a part of me. It feeds my organs, my bones my blood. I depend on it to build and maintain my body. My body can not enter the world inside the mountains, but a piece of the mountain is part of me.
Material Body - Hand 40x45x85cm steel €2800,-
Material Body - Face 25x19x35cm steel, brass, oil paint €1250,-
Material Body - standing figure 1 10x6x23cm steel,oil paint €750,-
Material Body - Transformation 20x22x35cm steel €1350,-
Material Body - standing figure 2 18x8x30cm steel,oil paint €750,-
Material Body - standing figure 3 14x8x29cm steel,oil paint €750,-
Material Body - inside 12x9x36cm steel,oil paint €950,-
Gut feeling, 2024, 25x25x55cm, Steel, €1800,-
Gut feeling, 2024, 25x25x55cm, Steel, €1800,-
Gut feeling, 2024, 25x25x55cm, Steel, €1800,-
Naked
The sensitivity of the skin; being naked; exposing ourselves; and the power of sincerity;
Especially in this day and age, when nudity is almost directly linked to gender debate, beauty ideals, and sexism, I want to promote the naked human body as something universal. Something fundamental to our existence as human beings. It is neutral and sincere. I want to show who or what we fiscally are as human beings: free, original, powerful, vulnerable, separate, but also a part of a bigger entangled world.
I am raised in a family where being naked was just a normal thing. Form my young childhood I would often go with my parents to a sauna, nude beach or other places where being naked is nothing special. While growing up, I became more aware of sexuality and the tension around a naked body. Seeing other people naked was not as innocent any more, and exposing myself became somewhat dualistic. On one side it still is something honest and natural. On the other side I am very aware of the sexual tension building up around the subject. It is this duality of the subject; being so linked to the context it is in, that sparked my fascination. What is considered normal, universal and natural on one place, is considered provocative and offensive somewhere else. Often by the same people.
In photography I try to get closer to the physicality of our skin, to get a better understanding of the role our own body’s play in our lives, and why we can not simply except the body of others for what they are: a natural and universal part of life.
Reflection
2024
sketche in metal
50x40 cm
steel.
(sold)
Extended
2024
gipson,steel
20x20x80cm
€1200,-
Unfolding
2024
steel
17x17x45 cm
€850,-
Dancer of Messen
2023
160x160x150 cm
steel and polycarbonate
When I first came to the artist in Residence KH-Messen I was fascinated by how much the perspective on the surrounding nature changes with changes in the weather. Suddenly the mountains can have disappeared, hidden by the clouds. Or the water can make the sky seems endless, being turned into a mirror on a windless day. When I was asked 5 year later to return and make an artwork for their art-garden I immediately know I wanted to incorporate this transformative quality into the work. Dancer of Messen changes with the weather and interact with it’s surroundings.
Time Fragment
2023
27x27x25 cm
epoxy, steel, seed
(sold)
Skin
"The closest we can experience matter is our own body."
In this series I show the machine we use to experience all of the world around us.
As a sculptor/builder I am fascinated by material, textures and how we can experience them. All of which is only possible through our own body. The workes caled Skin are a reminder that this body is all we have to experience and understend the world around us. As all of our body's are different, also the world we experience is different for each one of us.
Skin 1 2023 35x28x34 oilpaint on brass, steel € 750,-
Skin 1 2023 35x28x34 oilpaint on brass, steel € 750,-
Skin 1 2023 35x28x34 oilpaint on brass, steel (sold)
Trail
2022
2x - 32x15x12cm
Steel
€650,-
Naked Skin
2022
steel, motor
55x55x180cm
Part of the permanent collection of Beeldengalerie het Depot, Wageningen (sold)
The female body, formed from roughly cut pieces of steel metal, slowly move out in pieces and then rejoin to form the characteristic body. The sensitivity of the skin, being naked, exposing, and the strength of the body against references from the sheet metal to a knights armor, the armed forces and the physical battle, come beautifully together. At a time when female nudes can no longer be seen separate from gender discussions, beauty ideals and sexism, I want to portray the naked human body as something universal. In this work I want to express who or what we, as human beings (should / can) be: Free, universal, powerful, vulnerable and sincere.
Bubble
2022
200x150x300 cm
Wood, soap, string, motor, fan.
Bubble was created for the art route Kunst van hier tot ginder.
Photo’s where made by Victoria Cernica.
Wingbeat
The installation Wingbeat consists of three towers,
each with a flexible rod and two wings attached to it. The wings open and close as they dance around the pylons. The work harks back to a time when fields were teeming with insects. Swarms hung above the grass and flew around your ears as you stepped outside. That time seem to be over now over. Now comes the hum of electricity pylons and airplanes. These mechanical wingbeats are a reminder of what was once commonplace.
2020
powder coated steel, brass, painted tinplate, electronics
3x - 50x50x150 cm
Transition
This metal sculpture appears to be overgrown with mushrooms. Plastic umbrellas also sprout from the metal stump. The lightweight, mushroom-shaped umbrellas dance in the wind. They represent the mysterious appearance and disappearance of the many species of mushrooms in nature. With this work, the artist wants us to look at our surroundings with childlike wonder.
(text by Eva Kleeman)
2022
Lux aucupes (Light Catchers)
Lux aucupes is inspired by the way plants grow toward the light. With a rotating motion, they try to find the best spots to catch the light on their leaves. In the work it also becomes visible in the night, when lights shine upward from the ground. As the work rotates over the light source, it projects shadows of the grass onto the moving disks, catching a glimps of the world around. The combination of the Latin and Dutch name again refers to the plant-like character.
2020
aluminium, steel, stainlessteel, Lycra, nylon, motor, electronics
140x140x220, 140x140x240 cm
(one sold)
Pulse
2020
40x40x183 cm
powder coated steel, reflective foil, motor.
€ 3,200,-
Sprout
2019
steel and stainless steel
120x100x160 cm
€ 3.200,-
Water Washers
Video of machine washing cloth in water.
In the Netherlands the sight of people washing clothes in rivers lives only memory’s. In this model for a room filling Installation, the movement is mechanized as a tribute to the obsolescence of hard labor, and the loss of the fiscal connections whit nature.
2019
1:38 min.
Swirl
2018
stone, aluminium, steel
30x25x12cm
€ 450,-
Roaler
2018
stone, steel, wood
20x9x4,5cm
€ 110,-
Genderstone Female
2019
stone, epoxy
22,5x21x4 cm
€ 380,-
Genderstone Male
2019
stone, epoxy
16x23x8 cm
€ 380,-
Pollination Field
2018
The collective movement of nature and the growth and blossoming of plants have been a significant inspiration for this work. It's fascinating to see how flowers emerge and open simultaneously everywhere in spring. Even when birds are startled and decide to take flight simultaneously, a collective unity suddenly arises. The sensation that elements are invisibly connected evokes an overwhelming feeling in me. There's something magical about seeing how a group can suddenly emerge from individuals. With this work, I want to explore this experience.
The installation came about during my two-month stay in Norway. The grandeur of the surrounding mountains and the delicate beauty of leaves dancing in the wind left a deep impression on me.
Forgotten Pine
Nature can not be made by human hands... or can it?
The series called "Pine" is a followup on the "Bark" series where I research the transformation of nature when it is remade by human hands. Perception, skill and the use of material, re shaped the object to a piece that represents the natural form.
In this series I took it one step further. I approached the tree as a living organism in which many process take place. By drawing a tree with this in mind, the tree started to reform. After I used this drawing as a blueprint for two new sculptures, all that remains from the tree is a distorted reflection where a human functioned as mirror.
2018
250x200x450 cm
Steel
The Last Dance
2017
This installation consists of to insect-like objects, which move their legs in an unpredictable rhythm up and down. It reminds of a form of communication, where both love or hate can be of motivation.
2x (110x80x180 cm)
steel, paper mache, motor and programed elektronics
Gaasvlieg, 2017, 100x75x15 cm, steel, paper mache, € 380,-
fly 2, 2017, 32x17x6 cm, Steel, (sold)
Moth, 2017, 30x28x6 cm, brass, (sold)
Moth 2, 2017, 100x85x15 cm, Zinc, €420,-
Bug, 2017, 8x12x4 cm, steel, (sold out)
Bug, 2017, 8x12x4 cm, steel, (sold out)
Along the way blueprint 30x30cm
"Object" series
2014-2018
It’s not as easy as it seems, to look at an object as purely an object.
We are so used to first putting it in a context, for instance a context of art, furniture, tools, etc. that we often value it only from within this context. It never really is the object it self that determines what it is.
This series consists of several moving objects that are made to be an object.
In this sense they are allowed to be free from any opposed context, and they may do what they do best.
Each object has it’s own solitary character, and moves in it’s own way.
Transposition of colour
2015
340x470x160 cm
rope, wood, painted steel, pulleys, textile and electric motor
I got fascinated by the fact that people often wear gray-ish pants, while they lifen up their outfit with more colour from their waist up. By doing so they create a thin line of colour on approximately one meter above the surface of the earth.
In this installation I sewn many different colored t-shirts onto a band, and let them slowly rotated through the exhibition space, to mimic the colorful streams of people swerming the earth.
The Installation was shown as part of a group exhibition at project space Circa...dit, Arnhem in 2015
Living Bark
2013
100x160x15cm
tree bark, steel and electronics
In our lives we are constantly moving, interacting, and adjusting. We live in a flow of 24/7 while we try to understand the world around us. But many movements and processes does not take place in this rhythm. Like the growing of a tree takes years before changes on the trunk are visible. It moves so slow that we can not experience it as a movement. This work is about imaging we could see the bark of a tree, slowly drifting and bursting while it grows on the surface of a tree trunk.
Bosrand, 2015, 12x17x6 cm, steel wire and tinplate protected with red lead, (sold)
Departure, 2015, 34x53x16 cm, steel wire and stainless steel plate,
Westerwind, 2014, 7x13x6 cm, steel wire and tinplate painted black and read, (sold)
Ratchet Lever, 2014, 40x38x17 cm, sheetmatel, metal wire, nylon washers and red painted copper ball,