Jan Steenman is a Swiss artist-sculptor born in Geneva in 1994. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK) in 2018 and was an artist-in-residence at Het HEM – Contemporary Art Center in Zaandam, Netherlands, in 2019. He continued his studies at the Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD), where he earned a master’s degree in visual arts in 2022. Currently based in Geneva, he runs his own sculpture studio and exhibition space Espace OLIZANE in the district (Quartier des Bains) in Geneva.
Through his work, Steenman explores the intersection between the seductive and the strange, as well as the sculptural and the performative. His creations encourage the viewer to engage in deep reflection on physio-biological reality, confronted with a preternatural imagery. His multifaceted approach, which encompasses performance, sculpture, and pictorial representation, interrogates the physical limits of the individual while examining the boundaries of the infra-organic, figuration, and language, offering a reflection on the complex dynamics of perception and existence
Exhibitions
June 2023, Creatures, Gallery GoMulan, Amsterdam Art
April 2023, Beyond the Surface, Gallery Polomarco, Geneva
August 2022, 3rd Biennale heART Geneva, Palace of Justice, Geneva
September 2021, Art Amsterdam, Kunst Rai, Amsterdam
October 1-4 2020, Big Art n.5, Hembrug Zaandam
January 2020, Rattling Trickling Whispering, Het Hem Contemporary Art Center, Zaandam
November 2019, Artist Council Exhibition, Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert, California
October 2019 Human Concrete, Boggieland, Amsterdam
September 2019 AMOA Utopie, Ruimte voor Idealen, The Hague
November 2018 SBK Sprouts Young Talents, SBK Kunstuitleen & Galerie, Amsterdam
November 2018 Fake predictions of the magic 8-Ball, De Vlieg, Haarlem
July 2018 Graduation Festival at The Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague
February 2018 Artbnb Festival 070, The Hague
January 2018 New Year New Me, WORM, Rotterdam
December 2017 Nokia’s TagLine, MOOF, The Hague
May 2017 Turn Left on Supernova, De Besturing, The Hague
April 2017 Spring Festival, The Royal Conservatory, The Hague
December 2016 The Shark’s Pretty Teeth, NieuweVide, Haarlem
Mars 2016 (De)quantify me, TENT, Rotterdam
January 2016 Kirkuk exhibition, Kirkuk restaurant, The Hague
Decembre 2015 Otsefinam (Manifesto), TENT, Rotterdam
November 2015 Show More, Stroom, The hague
December 2014 Easy show, Exo Gallery, The hague
Acquisitions
« BIFACE (I) » 2023, Sculpture – Public Collection, Musée Ariana, Swiss Museum of Ceramics and Glass, Geneva.
« BIFACE (II) » 2023, Sculpture – Private Collection, Willem Sijhoff, Co-founder of Amsterdam Art.
« Organique Mécanique » 2021, Sculpture – Private Collection, Rob van Schaik & Wijnanda Rutten, Contemporary Art Collection.
« Extinct Instinct » 2020, Sculpture – Private Collection, Robert Van Ancum, Contemporary Art Collection.
Education
Master of Arts HES-SO in Visual Arts
With a focus on Work.Master – Contemporary Artistic Practices, HEAD, Geneva — 2020-2022
Bachelor of Fine Art
Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague — 2014-2018
Bibliography
La Tribune de Genève, « Une allégorie de la vérité au Palais de la justice », Irène Languin, 9th of August 2022.
Het Parool, « Deze culturele instellingen zijn tijdelijk buiten gebruik » Dirk Kome, 28th of May 2021.
Damn Magazine n.72, The Endurance of Performance, Jan Steenman: The sensorial Art, Emma Lucek, april 2019.
Metropolis M, Graduation Show 2018: KABK Lorelinde Verhees, 12th of July 2018.
MISTER MOTLEY, Art & Everyday Life KABK Graduation, 21st of July 2018.
JEGENS & TEVENS, KABK Graduation Festival Connie van Driel, July 2018.
JEGENS & TEVENS, ‘Nokia’s TagLine / The pre graduates of KABK’ Connie van Driel, 14th of November 2017.
JEGENS & TEVENS, ‘Toon Fibbe / The Shark’s Pretty Teeth’ Jegens, 29th December 2017
de Volkskrant, ‘Ik zie jou niet als seksueel, maar als one of the guys’ Jeanne Prisser, 15th of April 2016.