According to trendwatchers, 3D-printing is the next big thing: in the near future, every household will own a­ printer that is capable of printing digital three-dimensional objects into a physical object. In the process that is best known under the name ‘Additive Manufacturing’, a 3D-printer builds up a model layer by layer by selectively hardening liquid or powder.

If this powder is a plaster-like material, a model can be directly printed in full color. The 3D-printing of delicate and colored models is far from being just pushing a button, but requires great technical skills. Therefore only a few specialize in this technique and there is no artist who pushes the boundaries colorized 3D-prints as far as Eric van Straaten.

There is no technique that is capable of achieving such a great degree of hyper(sur)realism as 3D-modeling. At the same time, 3D printing is the only technique with which virtual models can be made actually physically touchable. Physical expressiveness in form and content is the biggest strength of the work of Eric van Straaten: while the sculptures remain to have a certain digital feel to them, the pieces contain a weirdly eroticized corporeality. Balancing on the edge of kitsch, the marzipan-like quality of the material resonates beautifully with the apparent innocence of the scenery.

For Van Straaten, the focus on girls on the threshold of adulthood reflect both my own obsession and that of contemporary western civilisation with (frozen) youth. What this focus means for the development of young girls toward womanhood, is painfully described by Mary Pipher in her book, Reviving Ophelia; Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. By using different accessories, companions and scenery, I try to transform the Ophelia-figures into Nemeses (not in the sense of archenemies but in the sense of the Greek goddess Nemesis, the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris: arrogance before the gods). I believe that Vladimir Nabokov, when he coined the name in his controversial novel, meant his Lolita-figure to be a similar figure: a creature that turns on its maker.

EXHIBITIONS
Krause Gallery – 2013 – Reviving Lolita

KunstRAI, Amsterdam june 2012

Solo-exhibition Galerie Majke Husstege

Flawless, Berlin may 2012

Group-exhibition Strychnin Gallery

PULSE New York, may 2012

Group-exhibition Torch Gallery

Selva Obscura, Milan march 2012

Group-exhibition Officine dell’Immagine Gallery.

RAW Rotterdam, february 2012

Group-exhibition Galerie Majke Husstege

PAN Amsterdam, november 2011

Group-exhibition Galerie Majke Husstege

BLOOOM, Cologne october 2011

Group-exhibition Strychnin Gallery

Valley of Dolls, Berlin september 2011

Group-exhibition Strychnin Gallery

Verinneren en Herlangen, Haarlem august 2011

Kunst op kantoor, Haarlem july 2011

Solo-exhibition kamer van de wethouder

Ctrl-Z, Haarlem july 2011

Art Kitchen, Amsterdam june 2011

Art Amsterdam, may 2011

Group-exhibition Galerie Majke Husstege and Artkitchen

Chilling Effects, Enschede april 2011

Galerie Majke Husstege, Den Bosch february 2011

Het Brein, Haarlem november 2010

Group-exhibition Museum Het Dolhuys

Letterbak, Haarlem november 2010

Zilverlingen, Haarlem november 2010

Group-exhibition Provinciehuis Noord-Holland

De Kleine Zaal gaat groot, Haarlem october 2006

Roozenbottel, Haarlem february 2006

How much is that Doggie in the window?, Haarlem, november 2005

Kleine Zaal, Haarlem august 2005

Beeckestijn_revisited, Velzen november 2004

De Vishal, Haarlem february-march 2003

Galerie Lijts, Haarlem 2001

Hotel Winston, Amsterdam 2001

Stichting HIG/Basta, Den Haag july 1995

Filmtheater Desmet, Amsterdam march 1995

Amsterdams Centrum voor Fotografie, Amsterdam september 1994

De Moor, Amsterdam august 1993

TECE/Rencontres Internationales de le Photographie Arles, France 1993

De Moor, Amsterdam 1991-1994