Nick Renshaw - Visual Artist

This group of sculptures from the Native Earthling series was selected by the art commission of the VU Medical Centre in Amsterdam to be permanently installed in a newly renovated wing of the hospital as part of their institutional art collection. The hospital sees the presence of artwork in and around it's buildings as playing an important role in the health and wellbeing of patients. They see such art as acting as a positive distraction to those within the institution, as being a recognisable landmark around which daily activity takes place, as offering a potential to experience artistic excellence, as an instigator of stimulating discussion, and as a change to familiar surroundings. These figures are installed along a central thoroughfare along which patients, doctors, nurses, students, and all manner of other guests to the hospital pass. The very tactile quality of the works acts as a positive addition to the specific nature of this otherwise functional part of the building, fulfilling individually and as a group the desired contributions to the daily life of the hospital.