Marcel van Eeden: Celia

Every day, the Dutch artist Marcel van Eeden, who was recently featured at the Fourth Berlin Biennale of Contemporary Art, sits down at his cluttered desk, surrounded by overflowing bins of archival materials, and he makes a drawing based on an image from one of his many historical documents--whether it be a topographical atlas, a newspaper, an old illustrated book or a magazine like Life or Paris Match . The only condition to which van Eeden holds himself is that the primary image must have been made at least one year before 1965, the year of his birth. So far, van Eeden has created thousands of these small-format, diaristic charcoal and pencil drawings, which he describes together as, "an encyclopedia of my death." This substantial first monograph airs the mystery surrounding Celia, the protagonist of van Eeden's latest cycle of works, and also features a representative selection of early drawings.