drawings / about / contact
	Karin Janssen is a visual artist, born in the Netherlands. Since 2009 she has lived and worked in London, where she runs Karin Janssen Project Space. STATEMENT "I like to play with the fine line of when beauty becomes ugly, but especially when the repulsive becomes attractive. It fascinates me how the ideal images of the female collide with reality. In essence my work drags these ideal images into the absurd. It’s like I’m producing huge, horrifically failed jokes. Starting point is always my own face which adds a certain intimacy; but I never make self portraits. The women in my work rise above the personal. I’ve always felt you can sense the energy of the maker in any good work, and I strive to bring my own energy across to the viewer. That is why my work isn’t polished, you can see how it’s made. You can feel the process: see searching lines and then, all of a sudden, a firm decision. These decisions explode off the paper. Because of the enormous scale at which I work, people can relate to them on a physical level. A nostril can be as big as your hand, a seductive eyelash as long as your arm. This way I show the corporality of a face." PRIZES AND SUBSIDIES 2006 – 2010       Awarded a production subsidy by The Netherlands                            Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture 2006 – 2007       Association ‘Trein H.IJ.S.M. 8.28’                            Rotary Club ‘s- Hertogenbosch Oost 2003                   Selected by Sandberg Institute, The One Minutes                            Foundation RESIDENCIES 2006 - 2007       Casa das Caldeiras in São Paulo, Brazil EDUCATION 1999 – 2004       Academy for Visual Arts & Design 's-Hertogenbosch                            B.F.A.		PROJECTS Karin Janssen Project Space: On 7th April 2011 Karin opened up the independent exhibition space Karin Janssen Project Space in the East End of London. NIKA Art Projects: Karin Janssen is the artistic leader of NIKA Art Projects, a Dutch foundation which she co-founded in 2008, together with art historian Nienke Verschuur. NIKA Art Projects was responsible for 'Drawing her Story', in which Dutch and foreign women drew each other's life stories. Drawing her Story has so far involved over 40,000 people. Children's Art Projects: Karin Janssen has set up various art projects for children in the Netherlands, Peru, Ecuador and Paraguay, amongst which The Enchanted Loft and Las Fabulas Locas. More... SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2011                   C&H Art Space in Amsterdam                            Karin Janssen Project Space in London 2010                   Artists with Attitude in Amsterdam                            Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam 2009                   Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam 2008                   Loods 6 in Amsterdam Quartair in The Hague                            Sugarfactory in Amsterdam                            Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam 2007                   Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam                            Chiellerie in Amsterdam                            Casa das Caldeiras in São Paulo, Brazil                            Project Aware in Amsterdam 2006                   Casa das Caldeiras in São Paulo, Brazil                            Casa do Eletricista in São Paulo, Brazil                            Grafisch Atelier in ’s-Hertogenbosch 2005                   Grafisch Atelier in ’s-Hertogenbosch                            Gallery RC de Ruimte in IJmuiden                            Effenaar in Eindhoven 2004                   Gallery RC de Ruimte in IJmuiden                            Media Partners in Amstelveen                            Academy for Visual Arts and Design in                            ’s-Hertogenbosch 2002                   Nova Zembla in ’s-Hertogenbosch