Artist Statement & Resume | Portfolio

Wendy Nouse
is known for her socially oriented art pieces, which are poetic, abstract, and conceptual.

Born in the Netherlands, Maastricht, 1990. She began her studies in the fine arts department at MAFAD, Hogeschool Zuyd in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and participated in the Erasmus program at P2F, ENSBA in Paris. In 2017, she set up her art studio in France.

Her art practice is shaped by her artistic research in social, scientific, philosophical, and spiritual contexts. She transforms into images, sculptures, performances and installations that focus on the counter-cultural context in a universal world. She is Interested in subjects that create cultural and political discourses and require personal change within the principles of ‘Pavlov’s’ conditioned mind and ‘Newton’s’ Natural laws.

Inspired by auto-ethnographical research, grouped in the collection ‘Mapping an oeuvre’. To highlight how the social/cultural context dictates and limits the body’s movement and definition, pushing for a critique of these imposed norms.

This collection examines how gender roles and societal standards, particularly within the modelling industry, are conditioned (like Pavlovian responses) and perceived as natural or inherent laws (like Newtonian physics). Her use of auto-ethnographical research attempts to dissect and critique these learned behaviors and imposed “laws” by focusing on the artist’s personal experience.

These works refer to the modelling industry and the gender roles within society. Resulting in the art performances: ‘The forgotten space’ or the ‘Bubble Project’. For Wendy, the body is not defined merely by the corporeal limits of the individual. Still, it is always set within the social and cultural context that explains and justifies its movement.

Shifting her research to the current social-political context, as you can see in the collection: ‘How to become a terrorist’. The social influence of constant, invisible surveillance, which leads to self-regulation of behavior.

The collection uses the concept of Foucult’s Panopticon. To educate viewers on how societal power structures, like surveillance, create cultural and political discourses and demand personal change (conformity). Works that invoke Rousseau’s idea to question the nature and fairness of the current social contract regarding global movement and citizenship.

Inspired by the French philosopher Foucault, the strong social influence of the panopticon is discussed. A complex, sensitive subject that was completed by her graduation essay, ‘When Art Becomes Political, Can It Still Be Art?’. Creating works such as ‘Mass migration’, which is based on a social contract, by Jacques Rousseau, a political agreement that defines a society and dictates the collective will and rights of individuals. Resulted into the performance ‘Nous demandons’ at the European Parliament.

‘Residues of living’, To visualize the inner struggle and redefinition of self that occurs when an individual is displaced or isolated from their established social context, focusing on internal change.

The complexity of singularity (the state of being separate, unrooted, or unique) and the process of integration. These workes visualises the inner research understanding of the complexity of what it means to be unrooted and living in a continuous state of singularity. Resulting in works representing the social questions and blocks, redefining life choices resulting from the integration process.

This collection serves as an inner research visualization, aiming to impart an understanding of the psychological and emotional complexity of being an unrooted individual. The pieces created during the ‘COVID-19 lockdown’ (e.g., ‘Je recherche...’) reflect existential questions and social isolation, encouraging a contemplation of personal life choices and the challenges of the integration process ‘Choosing Again’. 

‘elle et dieu’ Coming up...