What they say about
"Charlotte Mouwens: vitality and humor"
"She stormed the art world, three times nominated for the prestigious Royal Prize for Painting, but she has not got it (yet). Vital work of young atmosphere, with lots of humor, irony and color. Everyone sees it: there is enormous potential here. She was succesful on the National Academy, where she continued her study after the ordinary art school. With two children at her skirts it was not easy to participate in foreign residences, but she managed to study and work in Shanghai and Italy, where she also had an international solo exhibition. Currently she has a giant collage on Shanghai in the meetingroom of the Minister of Education and W". Mariëlle Osté
"The choice of Charlotte Mouwens (Rotterdam, 1981)
to express herself through painting is so exactly right, that the observer will immediately perceive the force and urgency. Human presence, animals, sometimes surreal landscapes or indoor environments are starring the pictoral universe of Charlotte Mouwens. Sometimes there are just details, as if the artist dwelled on detail from a photograph, in any case the common denominator is a sort of expansion of the image through long and sinuous brushstrokes that give pathos and dramatic tones, showing the ironic gaze of the artist. This sguardo, far from suggesting a reading of the disenchanted world, aims to uncover the dark or simply absurd side of a society dominated by the nonsense in which the life and rituals take place according to dynamics that defy an order and a purpose.
The environments and subjects change significantly from one work to another - the bear that sits in the chair like a baby to be fed, an infinite expanse of empty carriages, a crowd of female figures standing among a myriad of cars, a young man who "enters" the casket of a giant music box - ranging freely between the images from the newspaper which, however withdrawn from their context and placed in a surreal setting, ambivalent and susceptible of multiple interpretations.
The colors and atmosphere of many works are livid, in contrast with the coloring of the real world, thus helping to create a feeling of malaise and disorientation. Mouwens seems to be interested in achieving a universal dimension through the particular: experiences and emotions, also linked to motherhood, magazines through an imagination full of dreamlike but also strongly permeated by the layering of messages from the media, thus acquire a timeless dimension and a metaphorical meaning, which force the viewer to reflect on what might be hidden behind the appearance of reassuring gestures and seemingly trivial circumstances". Simona Vendrameé
"The paintings of Charlotte Mouwens
are not realy autobiographical and yet each image is a personal interpretation and imagination to free. With full expression Mouwens paints domestic situations that can be cheerful, ironic and melancholic at the same time. From 2008 to 2009 she was a "resident artist" at the State Academy in Amsterdam. Last year the work of Mouwens was displayed during the exhibition at the Royal Palace: Royal Prize for Painting 2009. The work of Charlotte Mouwens is included in several corporate collections". Marlous Vereeckené