Mail: info (at) mariavandertogt.org
My paintings blur the line between viewer and performer, object and frame. I am fascinated by the idea of a painting, not as a fixed image, but as a threshold — between interior and exterior, public and private, reality and its imitation.
When I paint, I try to meet the real material inside the paint. I get attached to certain surfaces — a wall, a piece of fabric, a plastic bag catching light — and I want to hold them, to keep them still. What I want is impossible: to translate one material into another without losing its weight, its air, its hesitation. Paint doesn’t copy; it impersonates. It tries to become what it describes, but always falls slightly short. I like that failure.
My background in architecture shapes the way I think about construction and illusion. I rebuild what I see in a way that might be close to stage design; Techniques that are meant to convince an audience they’re somewhere else find a different role here. Canvas becomes brick, paint becomes stucco — but everything is left unperformed, suspended in waiting. Theatrical tricks without the drama. The scenes I build are incomplete on purpose. Stage‑like, but never staged. There is no performer, no script – just a feeling that something is always about to happen… but nothing ever quite does. Time feels held, as if it could slip, but chooses not to.
Alongside her studio practice, Van der Togt is active in arts management, working at the Creative Industries Fund NL, the Dutch national fund for design, architecture, and digital culture. She focuses on the Talent Development grant, guiding 50 emerging artists and designers annually. She is also the co-founder of TWO HANDS MAGAZINE, an independent publication exploring the interplay between photography and figurative painting.
Education:
TU Delft
BA Architecture and the Build Environment (2015 - 2019)
Sandberg Institute
MA Studio for Immediate spaces (2019-2021)
Selected Exhibitions:
2025
This Art Fair 2025, Amsterdam
The Tangible Silence of Coming Home, Josilda Da Conceição, Amsterdam
Art Antwerp with Josilda Da Conceição Gallery