V & B (Alex Jacobs & Ellemieke Schoenmaker)

V&B (Alex Jacobs en Ellemieke Schoenmaker) is an artist duo founded in Los Angeles in 2007. They live and work in Rotterdam. V&B are co-founders of the Hectobar.nl, the Bcademie and the Heejsteck#.

V&B make sculptures and paintings from plaster. A fascination for the geological processes that shaped the earth plays a clear role in V&B's work. They composes plaster scraps with plaster layers from the studio by pressing them together and endlessly working the resulting lumps of material into multi-coloured sculptures and paintings. There repetitive actions produce a tranquillity that can be felt in the perfectly smooth surfaces. At the same time, each sanded layer brings out new colours and echoes of previous work, like a kind of archaeological exercise.

Their work has been shown in multiple solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Among others: Torrance Art Museum (Los Angeles, USA), Gemeentemuseum (Den Haag, NL), Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam, NL), Galerie Jaap Sleper (Utrecht, NL), Co-Prosperity Sphere (Chicago, USA) and Mark Moore Gallery (Los Angeles USA).

Next to exhibitions they have received awards and grants. Among others: The New Rembrandt by the AVRO, Royal Painting Prize and Established Artist Grant by the Mondriaan fund. Their work can be found in both private and other collections. For example Centraal Museum Utrecht, Museum Voorlinden, VU Medical Centre, AKZO NOBEL Art Foundation and Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milan, Italy.

Submitted by Heejsteck#