Wim Borst

Wim Borst’s oeuvre reads like a book on modern sculpture in which each chapter comprises a group of works exploring specific formal possibilities within a well-defined theme. At the beginning of his career, Wim worked with cubes and squares, decorated with rectilinear graffito markings. Gradually he introduced diagonal shifts, investing his objects with greater dynamism and spatiality. He then developed a series of more ritual objects, with sheets of Plexiglass sandwiched between ceramic blocks, before returning in the late 1990‛s to a more abstract, geometric idiom.

During a highly productive residency at the European Ceramic Work center (‘s-Hertogenbosch) in 1998, he discovered the possibilities afforded by circles, cones and curved elements to steer his work in a new direction. At that time Wim introduced cylindrical forms bisected by angular elements. He also experimented with the interplay of matte glazes on granite-like biscuit clay. In his most recent work he stacks and rotates identical volumes to create complex three-dimensional studies. Whereas in his earlier work Wim mainly employed various shades of white, grey and black, he now works with bright colour accents, such as red and blue, thus emphasizing the illusionistic character of his objects.

His work is in private collections and in museum collections in the Netherlands and abroad, such as Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston USA, Frans Halsmuseum in Haarlem, Museum Keramion in Frechen Germany, ‘Magnelli Museum’, the Ceramics Museum of Vallauris, France, Museum Het Princessehof in Leeuwarden, and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.