Fanja Bouts

Fanja Bouts a visual artist working with installation and illustration. Her work surrounds the contrast between the playful and the absurdly serious, within the patterns of our existence. Through returning characters Bouts create chaotic scenes of non-linear narratives that fit into each other like puzzle pieces in a newly formed universe. This naturally morphs together into large scale, detailed works, with satirical and philosophical undertones.  

Fanja Bouts’ graduation work is an example of one of these worlds that are created through this way of working and thinking, which can generally be described as the following: The universal skies have cracked open to spill out the gross and gruesome realities of everyday life, where the stupidly absurd banalities of our spectacularly short existence on the rock we have named earth play out. Bouts presented a cheerful portrayal of humans, them, the world and the cosmos. 

 ‘A Largely Distorted yet Surprisingly Ordered Map of Regular Irregularities illustrates an image of the world we inhabit. In doing so, the almost three-dimensional tapestry functions as a cheerful guide through complex topics and realities such as the exploitation of the earth, social division, and capitalism to name a few, all symbolised within the tapestry’s intricate patterns. In A Largely Distorted yet Surprisingly Ordered Map of Regular Irregularities,  Bouts addresses heavy political and cultural arenas with humour and playfulness, creating a space for discussion and reflection. During our little chat, Bouts shares her hopes that the viewers “each, in their own order, take in what they can see” from the artwork, as the story has no beginning nor end.