Windows21 is open 24/7 as a window exhibition viewable from the street. Within the exhibition Machteld Rullens’s (1988, Den Haag) playfulness seems to humbly conceal its own depth. A love of material and space propels her into investigations of colour, structure and obsolescence. The abandoned becomes energetic and gritty architecture, calling into question notions of value and permanence. Using resin, she saturates her cardboard boxes with strength and a sense of longevity. That which was once fragile, empty and mundane becomes a sturdy, reflective and vibrant exploration of transformation and composition.

Machteld Rullens (1988) lives and works in The Hague. Rullens works with sculptural elements that have a strong link with painting but are rarely applied with a brush. She uses everything that’s available and that reflects her basic mood. That mood is a reflection of the time and of the world that, in spite of all its beauty, is overstimulated and possible even bored. Her wall objects, made from found cardboard boxes and epoxy resin, are full of emptiness. Rullens started painting on cardboard boxes when she ordered art supplies for the studio and noticed that the boxes could be tackled in a far more aggressive and impulsive way than for example a blanc canvas. She shapes and rearranges the cardboard boxes, something that was once fragile into something sturdy, relating to elements of play, composition, and architecture.

Machteld Rullens studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Her work has been shown in several solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions, such as ‘A room of one’s own’ and ‘The latest’ at Galerie Rianne Groen, Rotterdam; ‘Mobile Homes’, Künstlerhaus Otto 1, Eckernförde; Prospects & Concepts, Art Rotterdam; Billytown, The Hague. In 2019 Rullens received the Royal Award for Modern Painting. Next year she will be a resident at Thread in Senegal awarded by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. Her work is represented by Martin van Zomeren in Amsterdam.