About Tim Enthoven
In his work, Tim Enthoven observes taken-for-granted social, biological, and ideological forces that shape the groups that we are all a part of, from families to societies. He uses motifs from everyday life like kitchen scenes, dogs, and suburban architecture. By playing with the scale, function, and repetition of these elements Enthoven creates conflicted images. These conflicts point to existential contradictions in social, spatial, and temporal hierarchies.
For example, in the painting I Am More Important Than My Father Because He Sacrificed His Life For Me Enthoven proposes a kitchen that is built on top of a father throwing his child into the air. In Design for a Garden Fence Panel he proposes a typical Dutch garden fence build up of biting, interlocking, golden retrievers. By equating the function of the dog with the function of the fence Enthoven plays with the categories of animal, human, and object and how they facilitate speciesism. In Design for a Bookcase Enthoven investigates what it means to grow up in someone else's idea. It shows a bookcase constructed out of terraced suburban houses that were the product of the welfare state of the 70s.
Enthovens process starts with intuitive sketches in pencil, pen, and watercolors on paper in self-made sketchbooks. He then details and structures these drawings using references like building catalogs and personal family photos, as well as with readings from literature, ethics, and psychoanalysis. These sketches form the basis for bigger drawings and paintings that are in essence always sketch proposals for objects and situations. These sketch proposals are meant to be mentally executed over and over again in the here and now of the exhibition space, every time a viewer sees them.
Tim Enthoven is a visual artist based between Amsterdam and Brasilia who works with drawing, painting, print, and books. He received his MFA from the Yale School of Art and a BA from Design Academy Eindhoven. Since then, he has been exhibiting internationally. Recent solo presentations include House at Yve Yang Gallery in New York City, Repugnant Conclusion at Fons Welters Gallery in Amsterdam, and Puertas Adentro in Espacio Odeon in Bogota. He has participated in group shows at Tefaf NYC, Abrons Art Center and SPRING BREAK in New York City, Antenna Space in Shanghai, Loyal Gallery in Stockholm, The Lisbon Architecture Triennale, and the By Art Matters museum in Hangzhou, where his work is also included in the permanent collection. Enthoven has published multiple artist's books and a graphic novel, and for years he has been a regular contributor to The New York Times. He has received multiple awards and grants, including a Plantin Moretus Award, a Prins Bernhard Culture Fund scholarship, a Mondriaan Fund stipend for established artists and an Amsterdam Foundation for the Arts stipend.
CV