Els Kingma

Els Kingma (1947) has a broad background in arts. In addition to studying drawing at Ateliers 63, she has studied mime and physiotherapy. As of the 90s, she has been working as an independent sculptor and mime teacher at the Amsterdam College for the Arts. She took sculpture lessons with Richard de Vrijer and Ellie Hahn.

Kingma enjoys the craftsmanship of working with stone. She was and is interested in translating the human body into sculpture. This translation takes shape in the form of torsos, legs and heads in various types of stone and sizes. Where her earlier work depicted the entire figure, her focus has now shifted to a detail, a fragment. The point of departure is always recognisable, but not always realistically shown. Kingma’s work demands careful consideration.

Shape, hardness, unruliness, color and differences in structure inspire her and create a continuous challenge. She strives for a precise and clear contour in her sculptures. Her goal is to use (seemingly) minimal resources to achieve a maximal expression and intensity. The tension between the contours of a sculpture and its skin/texture have become increasingly important for Kingma. She also polishes the stone less often and instead chooses to show the rough texture of the stonecutting or to specifically search for contrasts. Kingma is clear about the meaning behind her works. She can find herself in a quote from Polish sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz: “what I want to say with my sculptures, my sculptures say”. 

Whether her sculptures are small or large, her torsos are always monumental, soft and distinctive