How much of our daily lives is built in the same way? In a restless world where perspectives are constantly shifting, people often present themselves through carefully constructed façades. What remains when the scenery disappears? And yet, just as something timeless can emerge within the artificial world of a film set, there is a layered, metaphorical beauty in what is fake.

We live in a reality where the fake feels real and the real feels fake. Consumers shop in digital showrooms as high streets empty out. The mall lives on in nostalgic aesthetics, vaporwave videos, retro games and online simulations, while becoming harder to find in the city itself. What once stood at the heart of the future has become an empty shell. In that decay, we can see a reflection of who we have become.

Vink and Putman create an artificial grotto of the kind found in a better shopping centre. Natural beauty—often imitated with materials such as plastic, polystyrene and resin—is used to put visitors in the right frame of mind to consume. In Add to Cart, their sculptures and paintings enter into a relationship with the rock installation. Together, the works reveal the mechanics of illusion and reflect on our compulsive consumption and our persistent search for happiness.

About HEEJSTECK#
HEEJSTECK# is a gallery and project space founded by Jaap Sleper and the artist duo V&B (Alex Jacobs and Ellemieke Schoenmaker). It is housed in a restored and renovated hayloft at De Grote Kuil, an eighteenth-century farm in Utrecht. For questions or more information, contact jaap@jaapsleper.nl.