Bouke de Vries (b. 1960) is from Utrecht, The Netherlands. He Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven and Textiles at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. After working with fashion icons John Galliano, Stephen Jones and Zandra Rhodes, de Vries decided to return to education to study ceramics conservation and restoration, becoming one of London's leading ceramic conservators. This led to his current artistic practice of creating – and deconstructing – intricate sculptures from fragments of broken pottery and porcelain, instilling them with new values and new narratives.
Solo exhibitions include; Memories in Porcelain, Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco, USA (2024); Visions in Porcelain, Sir John Soane Museum, London, UK (2022); War and Pieces, a travelling installation shown in The Lightner Museum, Washington County Museum, The Frick Pittsburgh, Hillwood House, Museum of Fine Art Montgomery and Wadsworth Atheneum in the USA; Alnwick Castle and Holbourne Museum in the UK; Gemeente Museum, Netherlands; Charlottenburg Palace, Germany (2011-2022); Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdan, The Netherland (2018); Sometimes I look East and sometimes I look West, Officina Saffi, Milan (2018); UN-Damaged, Musea Dal Ceramica Mondovi, Mondovi, Italy (2017); Fractured Images, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2017); Studying human activity through the recovery of material culture, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2016); War and Pieces, Gemeente Museum The Hague, Netherland (2016); Fragments, Château de Nyon, Musée historique et des porcelaines, Nyon (2014); and Threads of My Life, Gloria Maria Gallery, Milan (2014).
Group exhibitions include [upcoming] All About Eve, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2025); Boeken Als…, Huis van het Boek, The Hague, Netherlands (2024); My World, Singer Laren, Netherlands(2024); Horse Show, Messums, Whiltshire, UK (2024); Golden Veins, Alison Bradley Projects, New York, USA (2024); The Shape of Things: Still Life in Britain, Pallant House Gallery, Chicister, UK (2024); Contem’Plate, Messums, Wiltshire, UK (2024); Listening to the Earth, Mudac Lausanne, Switzerland (2022); Confluence, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, UK (2022); Yobitsugi, White Conduit Projects, London, UK (2022); 10 Ans Design, MAD, Paris, France (2022); Design & Dynasty, Vonderau Museum Fulda, Germany (2022); Homo Faber, Library of St Giorgio Venice, Italy (2022); Lust at Lustheim, Lustheim Palace, Oberschleißheim, Bravia, Germany (2021); Group Exhibition, Witte the With, Rothertham, The Netherlands (2020); All the Days and Nights, Kristin Hjellegjder Gallery, London (2020); War and Pieces, Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, Alabama, USA (2019); The Precious Clay, Museum of Royal Worcester, Worcester, UK (2019); Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Yingge, Taiwan (2018/19); Glitch, Kuntsi Museum, Vaasa Finland (2018/19).
De Vries' renowned installation War and Pieces has been exhibited across Europe, Asia and the USA since 2012, with each new iteration reworked to reflect on the region and its history and interact with the interior settings. De Vries work is in numerous collections such as Aberdeen Art Gallery; The Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland; Caldic collection, Netherlands; Castle Hingene, Belgium; Collection Edgar J. and Clarissa Bronfman, London; Collection Hugo Brown, The Netherlands; Collection Elton John, London/Los Angeles; Collection Taiq Al Jaidah; Collection Kay Saatchi, Los Angeles; Collection Frances Reynolds, London; Collection Mizuho Bank London; Drake collection, The Netherlands; Le Chateau de Nyon, Nyon, Switzerland; MIMA, Middlesbrough; MONA, Tasmania; MUDAC, Lausanne,Switzerland; Ministry of foreign affairs Netherlands; Pallant House Gallery; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Philadelphia Museum; National Dutch ceramic museum Princessenhof, Leeuwarden Netherlands; York City Art Gallery; Zabludowicz Collection, London.