Large-Scale Floral Sculpture by
Willem de Rooij
Created for the Jewish Museum’s Lobby

New York, NY - From October 31, 2014 through April 20, 2015, the Jewish Museum’s lobby will feature a site-specific floral sculpture by Dutch artist Willem de Rooij titled Bouquet XI. The artist’s first solo presentation at a New York museum, Bouquet XI is a nearly ten-foot-tall floral sculpture comprised of colorful and diverse Middle Eastern flora. This work is the third iteration of Using Walls, Floors, and Ceilings, a series showcasing new works by artists from around the globe in the Skirball Lobby. The series builds on the Museum’s 1970s program called Using Walls, which featured the work of 14 up-and-coming international artists of the time such as Richard Artschwager, Sol LeWitt, Richard Tuttle, and others. Now, nearly 45 years later, the Museum is revisiting this moment in its history by showcasing new work by emerging artists from around the globe.

Placed prominently in the entrance lobby, Bouquet XI may be confused with grand arrangements often found in public reception areas, but its grand stature and wildly varied, all-over composition reveals its uncommon status. Created in collaboration with floral designer Bella Meyer, each species contributes to a sensory experience that is both visually lush and physically impactful.

In 2002, de Rooij began collaborating with Jeroen de Rijke (1970-2006) on the Bouquet series, a group of floral sculptures with distinct thematic conceptions and arrangements. Bouquet XI is comprised of floral species indigenous to the Middle East—inspired by the fact that Israel, like de Rooij’s native Netherlands, is a major flower exporter. Bouquet XI is comprised of allergenic flowers that may interrupt a pleasant viewing with sneezes, snuffles or a stuffed nose. The drifting pollen alludes to the conflicts and harmonies that arise when borders are traversed and cultures collide, while the display of Middle Eastern flora, thousands of miles from their native habitat, hints at other global forms of movement, such as trade and commerce.  To maintain this experience, the flowers of Bouquet XI will be replaced weekly. 

Based in Berlin, Willem de Rooij is a Dutch artist who has worked in a variety of mediums including film, photography, and textiles. Much of his work emphasizes its own inherent material qualities and mechanisms of production in an effort to question contemporary art’s reliance on external cultural, historical and personal references. De Rooij’s art has been prominently exhibited in Europe, including in the Dutch pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale. The Jewish Museum’s presentation is the artist’s first solo installation at a New York museum.  Bouquet XI will be realized in collaboration with noted flower designer Bella Meyer, who is the founder and creative director of the New York flower shop and design studio FleursBELLA in Greenwich Village, and granddaughter of Marc Chagall.

In May 1970, the Jewish Museum presented Using Walls, an exhibition of commissioned projects installed both within and beyond the gallery space of the Warburg Mansion. A former residence, the Museum renovated the French Gothic chateau-style building in the early 1960s and expanded its gallery space by adding new, modern galleries and an outdoor sculpture court to accommodate the larger scale works created by artists in the postwar era. Using Walls (Indoors) focused on the sentiment that the wall was not merely a structure or surface but could function as a material or component of a work of art. This philosophy extended to Using Walls (Outdoors) with emphasis placed on the relationship between art, public space, and the viewer. Using Walls (Indoors) featured innovative works by 14 international artists such as Sol LeWitt, Robert Ryman, Richard Tuttle, Mel Bochner, Richard Artschwager, and others. Using Walls (Outdoors) focused on the work of City Walls, Inc. and Smokehouse Associates, two collectives known for their large-scale, vibrant murals in unexpected places across New York City.

The Using Walls, Floors, and Ceilings series is organized by Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs, and Kelly Taxter, Assistant Curator.

About Willem de Rooij

Willem de Rooij (born 1969 in Beverwijk/Netherlands) lives and works in Berlin. Central in his work is the selection and combination of images in a variety of different media, ranging from sculpture to photography, film and texts. De Rooij analyses conventions of presentation and representation and constructs tensions between historical, political and autonomous sources. His early film installations, made with Jeroen de Rijke, already had a sculptural character. Recent exhibitions make use of existing objects and works of other artists.

De Rooij studied art history at the University of Amsterdam and art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Recent solo exhibitions include “Farafra” at Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2013), “Untilted” at Kunstverein München, Munich (2012), “Residual” at Kunstwegen Open Museum, Burg Bentheim (2012), “Crazy Repelled Firelight” at Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York (2011), “Intolerance” at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2010) and “Slit or Gloved” at Galerie Buchholz, Cologne (2010). De Rooij is Professor of Fine Art at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main since 2006. His works can be found in the collections of Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, MUMOK in Vienna, Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, Centre Pompidou in Paris, MOCA in Los Angeles and MOMA in New York.