Email: xamvkempen@gmail.com
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Born in a small, rural village, Xam (2000) began to wonder at an early age if there was more to life, but soon discovered that there actually wasn’t. He realised, when asking a question long enough, the answer no longer matters. Always thinking, always feeling, but without reason. This got him heavily into music. Inspired by Lou Reed, David Bowie and his favourite movies, Xam started writing stories. Creating and absorbing these works of art exposed him to the virus of being, in the hopes to build enough immunity and therefore survive. This resulted in the publication of his first novel “The Judas” at the age of sixteen. An accomplishment he is proud of, but of the book itself he thinks it’s the worst book ever written.
After a failed attempt to study film in Amsterdam, it was at the University of Arts in Arnhem where he picked up a brush for the first time. Painting quickly became his favourite medium. He started describing his work as an autobiography of someone who never existed, with the alienation, disorientation and loneliness of a person as reoccurring themes in his paintings.
The ‘Superfluous man’ became a central figure in the narrative, a capable being who struggles with social structures and is unable to fit in. But after reading ‘The Diary of a Superfluous Man’, by Iván Turgeniéff, Xam realised it was the wrong term to use. The Superfluous Man definitely shares similarities with the topics of his work, but the main difference is that the Superfluous Man knows whát he is and not whó he is. The person in Xam’s work neither knows what or who it is.
All of the paintings communicate, strengthen and contradict each other. The total of works is in a constant state of becoming. It’s ever changing and continuing and thus recreating the experience of a life. A life that doesn’t matter.
When he creates his paintings, Xam tries to apply the same tactics as Lou Reed, one of his favourite artists. Lou Reed is described as a mirror, someone who observed the people in the street and then bounced it back. How he, as an outsider, was able to do this, without disrespecting the people on the streets, is very interesting to Xam. Having a little bit more distance from the subject creates sincerity and catches people off guard.
Xam graduated in 2021 and received a subsidy. After his first solo-show at Collectie de Groen, he decided to move to Ghent, Belgium. Here, he felt more superfluous than ever and wrote a plan. A plan on how to disappear completely. Instead of putting the plan in motion, he returned to the Netherlands where he now works and lives.
After a failed attempt to study film in Amsterdam, it was at the University of Arts in Arnhem where he picked up a brush for the first time. Painting quickly became his favourite medium. He started describing his work as an autobiography of someone who never existed, with the alienation, disorientation and loneliness of a person as reoccurring themes in his paintings.
The ‘Superfluous man’ became a central figure in the narrative, a capable being who struggles with social structures and is unable to fit in. But after reading ‘The Diary of a Superfluous Man’, by Iván Turgeniéff, Xam realised it was the wrong term to use. The Superfluous Man definitely shares similarities with the topics of his work, but the main difference is that the Superfluous Man knows whát he is and not whó he is. The person in Xam’s work neither knows what or who it is.
All of the paintings communicate, strengthen and contradict each other. The total of works is in a constant state of becoming. It’s ever changing and continuing and thus recreating the experience of a life. A life that doesn’t matter.
When he creates his paintings, Xam tries to apply the same tactics as Lou Reed, one of his favourite artists. Lou Reed is described as a mirror, someone who observed the people in the street and then bounced it back. How he, as an outsider, was able to do this, without disrespecting the people on the streets, is very interesting to Xam. Having a little bit more distance from the subject creates sincerity and catches people off guard.
Xam graduated in 2021 and received a subsidy. After his first solo-show at Collectie de Groen, he decided to move to Ghent, Belgium. Here, he felt more superfluous than ever and wrote a plan. A plan on how to disappear completely. Instead of putting the plan in motion, he returned to the Netherlands where he now works and lives.