Michael Raedecker
Born 1963, Amsterdam (NL)
Lives and works in London (UK)
Michael Raedecker records the memories held within spaces and objects in his enigmatic and dream-like paintings. Suburban homes, tree houses and empty rooms and vacant chairs, all float in haunting isolation. Muted hues are penetrated with thread and needle where the artist hand-sews forms into textural materiality. Raedecker mines art history and popular culture, sourcing compositions from 17th-century garland paintings, obscure magazines, and film stills.
Since the beginning of his career as a painter Raedecker has incorporated embroidery into his works as a visual counterpoint to his washed-out paint application. His elaborate needlework adds linear definition to representational forms and the thread and paint visually mix together in areas of dense detail or abstraction. The absence or suggested loss of human presence invites the viewer to contemplate architecture as a mental or emotional space, where the domestic realm is detached from practical implications, yet deeply personal. Images of flowers, food and textiles with darkly ambiguous titles bring the domestic associations of his stitching into play with his subject matter, and show his interest in the Dutch tradition of still-life and Vanitas paintings. Raedecker’s distinct formal language explores the relationship between the formless, complex nature of our emotions and the vessels we use to contain them.
Michael Raedecker (b. 1963 in Amsterdam, NL) currently lives and works in London (UK). He received his BA in Fashion Design from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (NL), and continued his studies at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (NL) as well as Goldsmiths College, London (UK). In 2000, Raedecker was shortlisted for the Turner Prize.
His work can be found in the collections of Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL); Akzo Nobel Art Collection, Amsterdam (NL); Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (US); Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (NO); British Art Council, London (UK); Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (US); He Art Museum, Foshan (CN); ING Art Collection, Amsterdam (NL); Istanbul Modern Collection, Istanbul (TR); Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome (IT); Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo (NL); Tate Britain, London (UK); Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (NL); Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (UK) amongst others, as well as in many private collections.
-
De Slapers
Judith Boessen, Mister Motley, April 7, 2016 -
Michael Raedecker maakt nu spookbeelden in nepbont (in Dutch)
Lucette ter Borg, NRC, April 7, 2016 -
Michael Raedecker verheft simpele zaken tot kunst
Emmie Kollau, VPRO, March 19, 2016 -
Michael Raedecker, artist: 'You're in the studio every day and you want to keep things lively and interesting'
Karen Wright, Independent, February 25, 2016 -
UNRAVELING IDEALS: MICHAEL RAEDECKER AT ANDREA ROSEN GALLERY
Brian Fee, New American Paintings, September 7, 2013 -
Michael Raedecker
Leanne Cloudsdale, AnOther Magazine, April 5, 2012 -
Michael Raedecker’s Threaded Canvasses Depict Tattered Realities
HuffPost, March 7, 2012 -
The Low Countries. Jaargang 19
Frank van der Ploeg, The Low Countires, Issue 19, January 1, 2011 -
Ik blijf een Nederlander in het buitenland’ Video interview met Michael Raedecker
Erik van Tuijn, Metropolis M, September 24, 2009 -
Zonder titel had ook gekund (in Dutch)
Robbert Welagen, De Groene Amsterdammer, August 19, 2009 -
Borduren in betongrijs (in Dutch)
Sandra Smallenburg, NRC, July 9, 2009 -
Beauty in Ruins
Art World, Issue 2, December 1, 2007 -
Art in Review; Michael Raedecker
Grace Glueck, The New York Times, March 17, 2006 -
Michael Raedecker
Lee Triming, Flash Art, October 1, 2005 -
Michael Raedecker at Andrea Rosen
Melissa Kuntz, Art in America, March 1, 2004 -
Michael Raedecker
Johanna Burton, Artforum, October 1, 2003 -
Michael Raedecker
Martin Herbert, Tema Celeste 94, November 1, 2002 -
Dirty Pictures
Bart Verschaffel, Parkett, Issue 65, January 1, 2002 -
‘NSIDE ART; A Prize That Prickles
Carol Vogel, The New York Times, December 1, 2000 -
Flatland
Kate Bush, Frieze, September 10, 2000 -
Raedecker bij Turner Prize genomineerd (in Dutch)
Hans Steketee, NRC, June 15, 2000 -
Material Success
Simon Grant, The Evening Standard, March 16, 2000 -
Michael Raedecker: International Man of Mystery
Patricia Ellis, Flash Art, March 1, 2000 -
Images hanging by a thread
Richard Cork, The Times, September 20, 1999