Self-taught artist Anna van der Putte (1969) makes assemblages, installations, and paper and textile art. In recent years, she has worked exclusively with vintage and salvaged materials and objects. In her studio in Utrecht, the Netherlands, she has accumulated a vast amount of these and has generally spent far too much money on bakelite, foxed paper, broken toys, incomplete equipment and frayed linens.

Van der Putte is driven by a personal urge to source, sort and arrange objects. Seeing snippets of beauty in the most insignificant or worn items, she is passionate about salvaging this beauty and about finding new homes for orphan objects. Cherishing fragility and transience gives her a sense of meaning and security in a world she finds challenging.

Most of her works are distinctly tactile, inviting touch, curiosity and play. She typically uses a strictly limited range of colours and materials within her pieces or series. She mostly chooses neutral shades, but now and then bursts out in striking monochromes, impeccably colour-matched. Van der Putte enjoys word play, mixing visual metaphors (combining objects from unrelated professional or domestic contexts), and drawing on the cultural connotations of objects (for example, the inherent ‘authority’ of a printed book). She has a particular fascination with all manner of receptacles; boxes, frames, books, envelopes, bottles and bowls, as well as a love for vintage office items, systems and registrations, grids and schedules. Apart from tangible art works in a wide variety of techniques, she has in the past created institutions and events.

Anna van der Putte welcomes communication, questions, studio visits and collaborations. Do get in touch!

Send Anna a message here. Anna regularly posts on Instagram: @wijzemeisjes.