Born in The Netherlands and raised in New Zealand, Sabine Marcelis is an artist who graduated from the Design Academy of Eindhoven in 2011 and now lives and works in the harbour city of Rotterdam. Earning international recognition for her bold experimentation, which pushes the limits of both material and production capabilities, Marcelis strives to capture transient moments of light and movement in her work. Creating a fascinating interplay between the static and the ephemeral, Marcelis incites a sensorial experience that transforms resin and glass into soft, luminescent and dynamic artworks that continually surprise.
Recognised for her talent at a young age, Marcelis was awarded New Zealand Young Designer of the Year, and nominated for a myriad of prestigious grants. Since opening her studio, Studio Sabine Marcelis, Marcelis has participated in a series of impressive installation projects, including for Art Basel 2018/2019, the Aesop Vedovelle Fountain for Milan Design Week in 2017, the Dutch Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival 2017, a light installation at the Belgium Biennale Interieur in 2018, the Solo Sundial project, 2018 for A. Lange & Söhne, and the Burberry x Opening Ceremony capsule in 2018. She also presented No Fear of Glass in December of 2019, at the Miles Van de Rohe Foundation in Barcelona, the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial, 2020, in 2022 she exhibited at Noor Riyadh with her work, Light Horizon and in 2023, presented in Forever is Now, Art D’Égypte. Marcelis was awarded the Wallpaper ‘Designer of the Year’ award in 2020, the Design Prize 2019 in the Newcomer of the Year category, The Elle Deco International Design Award 2019 Young Designer of the Year and International Artist of the Year. Marcelis is the 9th artist to be commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust for the Colin Post 4 Plinths Project, installed between the forecourt of Te Papa Tongarewa and the Wellington waterfront from 2024 - 2026. In Australia, her works can be found in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide and important private collections.
Marcelis has been represented by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert since the gallery opened in 2019, and presented her first Australian solo exhibition, Shadow Light, with the gallery in 2022. The exhibition exemplified the complexity and depth of her material-led practice, that unites her diverse artworks through her focus on the interaction between light, colour and material.
