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4me4you Features –
‘VOICE OF A GENERATION’.
Essers, a prominent voice in the emerging Gen-Z art scene, has quickly gained recognition for capturing the unique spirit of a generation marked by a profound desire for connection, adventure, and self-reflection. Her work intimately reflects the dynamics of friendship and the shared experiences of her tightly-knit community.
Essers describes her art as a celebration of platonic bonds and shared moments: “My work is really about bonds of friendship, and intimacy, but in a very platonic way. It’s about showing a generation’s life, a Zeitgeist.”
A featured artist in Artsy’s article, “10 Emerging Painters Born in the 2000s to Watch Now,” Essers joins a cohort of young artists whose work is marked by introspection and personal storytelling. Eschewing traditional artistic movements, these artists are instead drawn to reflecting their individual identities and experiences against the backdrop of a complex and evolving world.
Among the exhibition’s highlights is a monumental three-meter painting, The World at Our Command. Featuring an almost god-like, three-armed embrace, the piece embodies Essers’ intent to capture her friends in larger-than-life representations, lending them a certain mythic quality.
The artist’s affection and admiration for her friends permeates each canvas, as she sees them not just as muses but as extensions of her own life story. “My love for my friends makes me want to put them on a pedestal… they’re portrayed larger than life because I try to give them the stage to stand on.”
Essers’ layered, interchangeable canvases offer a unique interaction, allowing viewers to rearrange elements of the artwork, symbolising the evolving and flexible nature of friendships. Each reconfiguration becomes an extension of her own memories, speaking to the trust Essers places in her audience and the fluidity of shared human experiences. Reflecting on her approach, Essers notes, “It’s saying that we decide our own world. I command what I paint and how I do it, and why. It’s also a generational thing. We are up-and-coming, and we are leading in our own ways.”
Through her layered, playful, and immersive compositions, Essers resonates with a generation keen on forging its own paths while cherishing the chosen bonds that define it. The World at Our Command stands as both an archive of these memories and a testament to the unbreakable links of friendship and self-discovery among her generation.
Artist: BOBBI ESSERS
