natasja kensmil

Natasja Kensmil refers often to human conditions and the interplay between history and the present. In Hell's Angels (2007), a central role was given to the Romanov family, the last Tsar of Russia. ЯAW Couples (2009) consisted of portraits of famous historical couples, often married and into a political position very young because of the untimely death of their predecessors. The title, with mirrored R, referred to the war as well. Love in times of war, but also a reference to fights within human relationships, leading to isolation and loneliness.

In Sleeping Beauty (2011) the confrontation between matter and spirit, eternity and transience played an important role again. Natasja Kensmil uses history in her work because she is convinced that the present exists in relation and in negotiation with the past. In her work she questions repeatedly the relationship between man and his identity, the society in which he lives, religion, nature and himself. Construction and destruction are clearly visible in nature and man; this movement is an essential process in the urge for change and renewal.

Central in Sleeping Beauty were several portraits of children carefully lain in state, surrounded by a decorative frame. These portraits are inspired by post-mortem photography, a genre that was particularly popular in the late 19th century. In this genre, the horrific death was photographed as if he is in deep sleep. The infants lie, often with a doll, with half open eyes in a coffin that could be a cradle a well.

In the series of drawings entitled Shadow Fields Natasha Kensmil explored the different manifestations of the cross. The crosses stand in the center of the drawing, the background is formed by anonymous figures and landscapes. The recurring black area in Shadow Fields refers to the black square of Malevich, but also to the series of crosses that Arnulf Rainer made in the fifties​​. Kensmil’s drawings are always composed of multiple, isolated layers. You can see drowning people, a silhouette of a young girl, fighting knights and shooting soldiers, Empress Alexandra Fjodorovna surrounded by skulls and a hanged figure.

 

Natasja Kensmil, Odalisque (Les Fleurs du Mal), 2022, Oil paint on canvas, 140 x 250 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Salò (Les Fleurs du Mal), 2023, Oil paint on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Muse (Les Fleurs du Mal), 2023, Oil paint on canvas, 140 x 250 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Sodom (Les Fleurs du Mal), 2023, Oil paint on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Myth (Les Fleurs du Mal), 2022, Oil paint on canvas, 140 x 250 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Sylfide (Les Fleurs du Mal), 2023, Oil paint on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, L'Ideal (Les Fleurs du Mal), 2022, Oil paint on canvas, 140 x 260 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Maria Munten en Isaac Jan Nijs, 2020, oilpaint on canvas, 250 x 230 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Selva Amazone, 2020, oilpaint on canvas, 230 x 200 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Weddingportrait of Johan de Wit and Wendela Bicker, 2020,  Stedelijk Museum, 362 x 540 cm
Natasja Kensmil, The Global Inquisition, 2018, ink and pencil on paper, 56 x 42 cm
Natasja Kensmil, The Global Inquisition, 2018, ink and pencil on paper, 65 x 50 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Melchior Hofmann, 2017, oil on canvas, 200 X 150 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Ferdinand II and Isabella I, 2017, oil on canvas, 200 X 150 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 42 x 56 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 42 x 56 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 42 x 56 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 42 x 56 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 42 x 56 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 42 x 56 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 49 x 70 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 49 x 70 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 49 x 70 cm
Natasja Kensmil, No Permanent City, 2017, indian ink, conté pencil and acrylic on paper, 49 x 70 cm
Natasja Kensmil, installation view Positions #3, 2017, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Natasja Kensmil, installation view Positions #3, 2017, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Natasja Kensmil, installation view Positions #3, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Natasja Kensmil, installation view Positions #3, 2017, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Natasja Kensmil, installation view Positions #3, 2017, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Natasja Kensmil, installation view Positions #3, 2017, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Natasja Kensmil, installation view Positions #3, 2017, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Natasja Kensmil, view andriesse eyck galerie, 2015
Natasja Kensmil, The Mount of Olives, 2014, oil on canvas, 230 x 200 cm
Natasja Kensmil, view andriesse eyck galerie, 2015
Natasja Kensmil, Books of Hours, 2013, oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm
Natasja Kensmil, view andriesse eyck galerie, 2015
Natasja Kensmil, Manuscript of Mystiscism, 2014, oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm
Natasja Kensmil, view andriesse eyck galerie, 2015
Natasja Kensmil, Crystal Eyes, 2013, oil on canvas, 260 x 140 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Agatha van Catania, 2014, oil on canvas, 90 x 120 cm
Natasja Kensmil, The Annunciation, 2013, oil on canvas, 120 x 130 cm
Natasja Kensmil, view andriesse eyck galerie, 2015
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, Indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, Indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, Indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, from Psalter Orgien series, 2015, Indian ink and conté pencil on paper, 49 x 39 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Fall Of The Rebel Kind, 2013, oil on canvas, 120 x 140 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Imago Mortis, 2012, oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Orb, 2011, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Ectoplasm, 2011, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Shadow Fields, 2011,  mixed media, (12x) 24 x 24 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Black Tears, 2011, mixed media, (12x) 24 x 24 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Narcissus (Sleeping Beauty VII), 2010, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, 2011, Les mysteres de la seance, oil on canvas, 150 x 150 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Sleeping Beauty VIII, 2010, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, SLEEPING BEAUTY, view Gallery Paul Andriesse, 2011
Natasja Kensmil, Sleeping Beauty III, 2010, oil on canvas, 90 x 120 cm
Natasja Kensmil, The Old, 2009, oil on canvas, 150 x 150 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Elizabeth I, 2009, oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Living Ancestors, 2009, oil on canvas, 260 x 140 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Fossil, 2009, oil on canvas, 230 x 200 cm
Natasja Kesnmil, Nicolaas II and Alexandra, 2008, oil on canvas, 260 x 140 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Les pleurants, 2008, oil on canvas, 230 x 200 cm
Natasja Knemsil, The exorcism of Anastasia Romanov, 2008, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
Natasja Kensmil, The martyrdom of Tsar, 2007, oil on canvas, 230 x 200 cm
Natasja Kensmil, OTMA, 2007, oil on canvas, 200 x 230 cm
Natasja Kensmil, House of Romanov, 2007, oil on canvas, 265 x 200 cm
Natasja Knemsil, Sick, 2006, oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Egg, 2003, oil on canvas, 230 x 130 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Cypress, 2003, oil on canvas, 300 x 140 cm
Natasja Kensmil, Empiri, 2002, oil on canvas, 345 x 132 cm