Natasja Bennink (1974) creates sculptures that interact and have a universal socially engaged content. Scupltures that provide physical experience in a field of meanings and call recognition that provokes at the same time. Her work mainly consists of life-sized bronze sculptures, which uses the human body as a carrier of meaning: man as allegory. The body provides Natasja Bennink a reference to show how the personal intertwines with the social and vice versa: the dialogue between the users of the public space: their personal reality and the cultural, social actuality in relation to her work.
An important theme in the work of Natasja Bennink is the position and portrayal of women, balancing on the intersection of art and society. Throughout the history of art there have been made many statues and Venus is the woman pictured in many ways. Today the woman is both cliché as an icon in the quick visual culture. The 'Venus sculptures' of Natasja Bennink are an ode to the woman of today and the future, familiar to modern man, with a touch of girl power.
Natasja Bennink has a raw stroke and reduces the anatomy of the model to the main lines and shapes. This creates a sculpture that is not complete but through gaps and holes evokes a tension that transcends the model. During the working proces, the sculpture comes in various stages. The starting point is the human anatomy. Essential therefore is the actual presence of the model. The human body acts as a translation of the concept. The place occupied by the human being as an individual, in the tension of self-development and self-aggrandizement, Natasja Bennink manly translates by using her own body as a starting point.
Natasja Bennink followed her training at the Minerva Academy in Groningen, The Netherlands.
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