Artist Spotlight: Nicola Kloosterman

A personal project by Dutch collage artist Nicola Kloosterman, using vintage ikebana arrangements which focus on the importance of silence, space, form, humanity, aesthetics, and balance. Kloosterman destroys and re-assembles these delicate arrangements to create a new image that strikes a balance between expectation and reality. See more images from “Shadowplay” below.

Nicola Kloosterman (Johannesburg, 1976) is an analog collage artist from the Netherlands who works with found imagery. Her subjects vary from fragmented female figures and faces to landscapes, nature and abstracts made with coloured paper and textiles cut from fashion magazines. Her collages explore concepts of (in)visibility, perception and feminine power.

“My approach to collage is very intuitive, usually starting with a partial image to work from and adding as I go along. I will add no more that three or four pieces, often settling on only two pieces in total, maximizing the conversation between the pieces.  I like to think of myself as an explorer and an observer letting images find each other by making introductions and waiting to see if there is a spark.  The joy really is in the process of bringing images together, analysing the impromptu narratives and stepping in to lead the process. It requires my full attention and really connects me to what I am making.”