Nynke Koster: Casting Marble as Soft as a Pillow
At the the Palace of Soestdijk, Nynke Koster casts elegant historic marble reliefs with a silicon rubber as soft as a pillow. You can watch her casting work in action here.
The historic palace became permanently inhabited in 1937 when Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard took up residence. The palace is now uninhabited and looking for new uses in this building. Currently, an exhibition called ‘Ball’ is taking place in the palace, featuring the work of 35 talented artists from the Netherlands, including the silicon rubber casting works of Nynke Koster.
Within the palace is the Stuczaal (Stucroom), originally part of the seventeenth century hunting lodge of King William III. The room is full of elaborate ornamentation that results in a trompe l’oeil effect. The room is the architectural and ceremonial heart of the building, where great receptions and parties were once held. ‘The first time I looked at the ceiling; I knew I wanted to put it into rubber!’ exclaims Koster.
Koster studied interior design and furniture making at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague, as well as philosophy at Leiden University. During her studies and experimentation with casting molds, she began to observe that the silicon rubber mold was just as interesting as the object itself. ‘A positive can never exist without its negative,’ she says. ‘I give the empty space another form.’
Koster has collaborated and learned in the past with the finest mold maker in the Netherlands, Oscar Paanen, to create rubber casts of iconic architectural elements including famed ‘The Gates of Paradise,’ now installed at the Royal Academy for the Arts in the Hague.
Using a technique for rubber casting developed by Paanen himself, Koster creates her stand alone reproductions that reinterpret the rich architectural history of the world around her in a soft, silicon rubber.
An inspiring young artist who is truly turning the world upside down with her works, you can discover more about Nynke Koster and her works here.