Nick van Woert
What I’ve started to see and what has defined the subtext to much of the work I do is that the comfort that many materials provide is only camouflage for the horror underneath.
Nick van Woert (1979, United States) explores the complex relationship between nature and the artificial world we have built around it. His sculptures bring together references to classical antiquity with commonplace and industrial materials such as plastic and PVC, creating unexpected encounters between past and present.
Central to Van Woert’s practice is the idea that materials carry their own meanings, shaped by how we encounter and use them in everyday life. He is fascinated by the contrast between natural processes of erosion and transformation and our impulse to construct, consume, and expand. Blurring distinctions between the natural and synthetic, ancient and contemporary, his work reflects on how our understanding of nature is continually reshaped by consumer culture and the material world.
