Pim Palsgraaf
°1979, Gouda, the Netherlands
Lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Pim Palsgraaf explores through his work themes of urban and natural dichotomy that reveals the fragility of urban spaces, often portraying deserted rooms and deteriorating structures that are being reclaimed by nature. This theme emphasizes the impermanence of human creations and the inevitable return of nature.
His works incorporate perspective lines and three-dimensional forms due to humanity's use of these methods to comprehend their environment. To delve deeper into the nature of perception, he isolated himself in a completely dark, silent room for five days, devoid of any temporal cues. This intense sensory deprivation experience revealed to him the fluidity of time and the constructed nature of perception in the human mind. Profoundly impacted by this revelation, his subsequent works evolved into spatial sculptural pieces that invite audiences to question their own constructed realities.
With painting as background, Palsgraaf approaches his sculptural collages similarly, layering recovered wood and found materials like a painter would layer oil paint. These materials add depth, light, and texture to his pieces, with each contributing its distinct colour from the decay of the material, functioning like brushstrokes in a painting. Through this technique, he creates rich, complex works that blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture.
Prizes:
Selected exhibitions:
2020, Nominated for the Heineken Art Prize
2012, Nominated for the Charlotte van Pallandt prize
Solo exhibitions:
2024 BELOW THE SURFACE | Solo exhibition at NLisUS Gallery Rotterdam [NL]
2023 Wadström Tönnheim Gallery. ’Future remains’. Marbella [ES]
2022 NLisUS Gallery. ‘Traces of existence’. Rotterdam [NL]
2022 De spelonk ‘Membrane’. Site specific installation. Den Haag [NL]
2018 Scope Art fair. With NL=US Gallery Booth 012. New York City [USA]
2017 Museum de Kunsthal. ‘In the absence of light’. Site specific installation. Rotterdam [NL]
2012 Cokkie Snoei Gallery. ‘Megalopolis’. Rotterdam [NL]
2011 MK Gallery. ‘Multiscape’. Rotterdam [NL]
2009 3rd Ward. ‘Summer solo show’. New York City [USA]
2009 Preview Berlin art fair. With MK Gallery. Berlin [DE]
Group exhibitions:
2025 Art Rotterdam Art fair with NLisUS Gallery. Rotterdam [NL]
2025 Arco Art Fair Madrid with Galeria Álvaro Alcázar. Madrid [ES]
2024 Invisible interactions, Macadam Gallery, (Group) Brussel [BE]
2024 Fundación Valentin de Madariaga y Oya. with Galeria Álvaro Alcázar. Sevilla [ES]
2024 VOLTA Basel Art Fair. with NLisUS Gallery [CH]
2024 Bordeaux Art+Design BAD+ with Galeria Álvaro Alcázar Madrid. Bordeaux [FR]
2023 Salangen Biennale, IPIHAN#13. Salangen. [NO]
2023 VOLTA Basel Art fair. With NLisUS Gallery. Basel [CH]
2023 Art Rotterdam art fair. with NLisUS Gallery. Booth 73. Rotterdam [NL]
2022 Museum Zandvoort, beelden in Zandvoort [NL]
2022 Private art collector. Commissioned site specific sculpture. Flims [CH]
2022 NPO2 extra.(National Television) Documentary art project ‘IPIHAN#9’.
2022 IFFR International film festival Rotterdam. Documentary ‘If paradise is half as nice’. 2021 Ijsselbiennale. International sculptureroute. Olst [NL]
2020 Museum Rijswijk. ‘Thuis/Home’. Papier biennalle. Rijswijk [NL]
2019 VOLTA Basel Art fair. With NL=US Gallery, Booth B19. (Duo). Basel [CH]
2019 Franzis Engels Gallery. ‘Serenditipy’. Amsterdam [NL]
2018 Museum de Kunsthal. ‘Maaskant getekend’. Rotterdam [NL]
2018 YIA Young contemporary art fair. With NL=US gallery, Booth 27. Paris, [FR]
2017 PULSE Miami art fair. With NL=US Gallery, booth 304. Miami [USA]
2017 Ehemalige Nudlefabrik. ‘If Paradise Is Half As Nice #7’. Zeitz [DE]
2017 Cranach Stiftung. ‘Apocalypse now’. Wittenberg [DE]
2016 De Vishal. ‘The act of the object’. Haarlem [NL]
2016 Outline art Festival. Site specific installation. Moskou [RU]
2016 Cokkie Snoei Gallery. ‘Questioning reality’. (Duo) Rotterdam [NL]
2014 W139. ‘Now Babylon’. Amsterdam [NL]
2013 TENT Platform voor hedendaagse kunst. ‘The traveller’. Rotterdam [NL]
2012 Museum de Kunsthal. ‘Aanwinst’. Hro Collection. Rotterdam [NL]
2010 Elga Wimmer Gallery. ‘Biennal wintersalon’. New York City [USA]
2010 Fountain Miami Art fair. With Christina Ray Gallery. Miami [USA]
2010 Pulse Miami Art fair. With MK Gallery. Miami [USA]
2010 Governors Island Art Fair. New York City [USA]
2010 Stedelijk Museum ‘s Hertogenbosch. ‘the nomadic condition’. Den Bosch [NL]
2009 Art Rotterdam art fair. With MK gallery. Rotterdam [NL]
2008 Berlin Biennale. ‘Review of a position’, With MK Gallery. Berlin [DE]
2008 International Landscape Triennial. ‘Power of places’. Nettenfabriek. Apeldoorn [NL]