Nelleke Cloosterman

Nelleke Cloosterman  (b. 1996, Wuustwezel, Belgium) lives and works in London, UK. Having completed a bachelor’s degree in visual arts and a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from KASK, BE, Cloosterman completed a postgraduate in Fine Arts at HISK, Ghent, BE. Cloosterman explores identity, female representation, and the coexistence of different belief systems, woven together through the lens of symbolism and personal history. Nelleke Cloosterman's paintings appear at first glance in the Vanitas fashion, still lifes of flowers, birds, fruit and candles, 17th-century imagery of expensive worldly possessions. But across the works are a series of small rebellions that manipulate the model of the Vanitas. Void-like settings, usually a non-descript room with the suggestion of a boundary, a wall, a curtain, an end, are opened up by Cloosterman. Walls become endless skies and dense forests, expanding the scope of the paintings across worlds. Here, multiple realities seem to exist, exchanged in thin layers of oil paint. This activates the objects in the paintings; birds are uncaged, flying wingless against an expanse of blue.

 

Solo Exhibitions include Between What Is Ours, PLUS-ONE Projects, Antwerp, Belgium (2025), Song of Invisible Boundaries, Indigo+Madder London, UK (2024), Dawn Goes Down To Day, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium (2023), Cardshark, CENTRALE for contemporary art, Brussels, Belgium (2022).

 

Group Exhibitions include (upcoming) Growth of the Soil, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK; Painting After Painting, S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium (2025), Art Antwerp, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium; Reflections, EU Council Buildings, Belgium (2024), Face Time, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium; Summer Show, Barbé Gallery, Knokke, Belgium; Beyond Borders, Verduyn Gallery, Moregem, Belgium (2023), Everybody Has A Plan Until, BARBÉ, Gent, Belgium; Infinite Flowers, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium; Kunsterfestival, Aardenburg, Netherlands; Neon Memories, BARBE!, Gent, Belgium; Altered States, PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium; I know why the caged bird sings, WARP, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium (2022), Various Positions, HISK, Brussel, Belgium; Belgium Art & Design Fair, Gent, Belgium; The HISK Affair, Brussel, Belgium; Sonsbeek 20-24 conjunctions, Arnhem, Netherlands (2021), Inside-Out, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium; Zomersalon 2020, Kunsthal Gent, Belgium; Salon des artistes, Ronse, Belgium; Artivirals, Maaltebrugge kasteel Gent, Belgium (2020), Graduation 19, KASK Gent, Belgium (2019), Het doel heiligt de middelen, Croxhapox Gent, Belgium (2018).

 

 

Cloosterman’s public collections include The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Painting, Home-Making, BE; MHKA, HISK Silkscreen: Sonsbeek, BE; Mu.ZEE, HISK Silkscreen: Sonsbeek, BE; IKOB, SISK Silkscreen: Sonsbeek, BE; Vrienden v/h SMAK, HISK Silkscreen: Sonsbeek, BE. Additionally, she completed the residency The Fores Project, London, UK (2025).