blowUP Art shows works of HKU alumni in the heart of Utrecht

02 november 2023

When cycling through the city centre, you might spot the enormous posters that show the art of two HKU alumni. The works of Linde van der Burgh and Nathalie van der Straten-Folkersma are giving Vredenburg and Voorstraat a new temporary look. The display is part of blowUP Art, the initiative by which blowUP Media shows the works of upcoming artists to the general public on large scale.

Alumnus Illustration Linde van der Burgh is fascinated by the earthly nature and aesthetics of vegetables. With her ceramic still-life images, she asks questions about the perfection behind the vegetables that we buy and eat on a daily basis. Can we actually take their beautiful shapes for granted? And what is needed to bring them about? In Van der Burghs works, foods are always the main thread. For her clay vegetables, she took inspiration from the centuries-old tradition of still life. In her own words: “Vegetables deserve to be bragged about.’

Nathalie van der Straten – Folkersma is also shining a new light on vegetables. The pink sprouts on the potatoes in her cupboard revealed a mysterious new world to her. In her home laboratory, she discovered the hidden beauty behind our consumer products. She captured the metamorphosis her vegetables went through in the gradation project for her Photography studies (2020). In her current work, the relation between humans and nature, and the birth of new life after death that occurs in nature, as the main source of inspiration.