Jeroen Jongeleen

“The work of Dutch artist Jeroen Jongeleen, otherwise known as Influenza, is characterized by a distinct stance of dissensus: one that opposes both the superficiality of urban design and the increasing colonisation of the street. In a practice that engages with images and public space in a militantly active way, he employs numerous methods and materials - including stickers, plastic bags, spray paints and even the human body itself - in an effort to enliven the banality and sterility of the modern city. Championing a more liberated public sphere and critiquing the over-regulation of both the city and art, Jongeleen’s understated but always ingenious urban interventions are heavily influenced by art movements such as Fluxus (a multidisciplinary group of avant-garde artists in the 1960’s), who he sees as the true descendants of the Dada spirit. He describes his motivation to create art as not about ‘decoration or making people happy, but about free speech and movement, about opposition as the essence of a truly democratic society’. His politically motivated work therefore sets out to illustrate the power and the dynamics of the street, while offering a utopian vision for the future.” - Text Rafael Schacter 

Jongeleen’s works have been exhibited at the SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space (NZ), the Prague Biennale 1 (CZ), Palais de Tokyo (Paris, FR), Stichting KunstFort Asperen (Acquoy, NL), Upstream Gallery (Amsterdam, NL), TENT (Rotterdam, NL), Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York City, US), Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (CH), Het Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst (Amstelveen, NL), De Appel (Amsterdam, NL), Burlington City Arts (Vermont, US), and Stichting AVL Mundo (Rotterdam, NL), just to name a few. In 2020, Jongeleen was awarded the second annual Brutus Art Prize. His work is in collections such as the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam, NL), Museum Voorlinden (Wassenaar, NL), The Kröller Müller Museum (Otterlo, NL), and the Progressive Art Collection (Mayfield Village, US). Jongeleen lives and works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.