Nick van Woert
New York based artist Nick van Woert makes sculptures that deal with American history and cultural appropriation. In a series of wooden statues, the artist appropriated cigar store Native American figures, carving historic white faces over the existing caricature visages. In a separate work, Van Woert made a vinyl record that plays the soundtrack that the FBI played during a standoff in Waco, Texas with David Koresh and the Branch Divisions in 1993. The FBI blasted songs and noises around the compound in an effort to torture the inhabitants. In another piece, the artist recreated a miniature replica of a Philadelphia home that was bombed by police in 1985 in an attempt to eradicate a communal black liberation group that had been characterized by the authorities as a terrorist group. The bombings killed eleven people, who died in the house that the artist situates below the viewer in order to recreate the vantage point from the helicopters that dropped the explosives. Van Woert’s works propose that history is a repeat, and adaptation is a synonym for assimilation.
Nick van Woert received his MFA from Parsons in 2007, and completed residencies at Zabludowicz, in Sarvisalo, FI, and at The Edward Albee …
New York based artist Nick van Woert makes sculptures that deal with American history and cultural appropriation. In a series of wooden statues, the artist appropriated cigar store Native American figures, carving historic white faces over the existing caricature visages. In a separate work, Van Woert made a vinyl record that plays the soundtrack that the FBI played during a standoff in Waco, Texas with David Koresh and the Branch Divisions in 1993. The FBI blasted songs and noises around the compound in an effort to torture the inhabitants. In another piece, the artist recreated a miniature replica of a Philadelphia home that was bombed by police in 1985 in an attempt to eradicate a communal black liberation group that had been characterized by the authorities as a terrorist group. The bombings killed eleven people, who died in the house that the artist situates below the viewer in order to recreate the vantage point from the helicopters that dropped the explosives. Van Woert’s works propose that history is a repeat, and adaptation is a synonym for assimilation.
Nick van Woert received his MFA from Parsons in 2007, and completed residencies at Zabludowicz, in Sarvisalo, FI, and at The Edward Albee Foundation in Montauk, NY. His work has shown widely, both nationally and abroad, including recent exhibitions at Garage Rotterdam, MAMbo in Bologna, Katonah Museum in Katnoah, New York, and the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. He has also had solo exhibitions at GRIMM in Amsterdam, Yvon Lambert in Paris/New York, and at L&M in Los Angeles.
