Lot Essay
Vanessa Jane Phaff graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in 1995. Phaff creates works with linocut on canvas. To the enigma of her 'invisible' technique she adds the enigma of the subjects represented: sour adolescents, girls captured in irritating languor, playful coquetry or grotesque cruelty. In 2001, Phaff's work was shown at Witte de With as part of the group exhibition The People's Art. The same year she was selected for a residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin. Solo exhibitions include Art Amsterdam, Reuten Galerie, Amsterdam (2008); Spiegelkabinett, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz (2006); Double Cube, Museum for Contemporary Art, Arnhem (2005); Vanessa Jane Phaff, I-20 Gallery, New York (2004) and Still, Centre d'Art Santa Monica, Barcelona (2003). She has participated in many group shows including Fairy Tale: Contemporary Art and Enchantment, The New Art Gallery, Walsall, the Chapter Art Center, Cardiff, and the Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds (2007); Girlpower and boyhood, Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, the Talbot Rice University Gallery, Edinburgh and the Solvberget, Stavanger Kulturhus, Stavanger (2007); Van Appel tot Zandvliet, Stadsgalerij Heerlen, Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, Heerlen (2006); and Orizzonti aperti, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti, Verona (2004).