Nick Hullegie

(The Netherlands) *1970 in Epe

Nick Hullegie produces mainly spatial installations, but also drawings and sculptures as well as mixed two and three dimensional art. His works often seem chipper and light – in Hullegie’s view pathos and political statements have nothing to do with art. Accordingly, the most diverse everyday objects become important elements in his artistic vocabulary: tables and chairs, cars and houses, a swimming pool ladder or a record. Through his unexpected interventions and conjuring up of associations he strips these objects of their function, throwing a new light onto everyday reality. In the process, he develops metamorphoses, figurative extensions or changes which always stem from the object itself. A perfect example of this is his work “Walking Frame”, on display in the Bad Homburg Schlosspark – a wheeled walking frame, but one which, instead of promoting mobility ends in an enclosed space. A hearty walker unexpectedly crashing into a barrier may seem unintentionally funny, but the observer’s laughter quickly sticks in the throat: freedom is everywhere curtailed. Hullegie makes us conscious of our visual prejudices, at the same time carefully attenuating them.