Airco Caravan (born May 24, 1965) is a painter and conceptual artist based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Biography

Early life

Airco was born as Ine Reijnen in Boven-Leeuwen,

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

on May 24, 1965. She went to high-school at Pax Christi College in

Druten Druten () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality covers the eastern part of the region of the province of Gelderland. One of its key features is the town's church, designed by ...

, Netherlands and after this she studied art at the

Utrecht School of the Arts The Utrecht School for the Arts () is a performing arts and visual arts educational institution in City of Utrecht, Province of Utrecht, Netherlands. The school opened for student enrollment in September 1987. Overview The institution has 6 ...

, graduating in 1988.

Early career

After art school, Airco went to work as an art director and freelance designer for several years. In 2006 she attended a

screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke ...

course at MK24 in Amsterdam. Slowly she started going back to her first love: painting. In 2011, she went to the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, where she perfected her oil painting skills. She still calls painting an eternal struggle.

Exhibitions and major projects

Airco is a

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

activist. In 2013, Airco asked 16 different Chinese artists to paint a different part of the face of the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

. The artists made a painting of a nose, ear or a peace of skin, while they thought they were painting a mango, curtain or other object. It had to be done this way, because the image of the Dalai Lama is forbidden in China. They sent the pieces to the Netherlands where Airco assembled everything to a portrait. It was offered to the Dalai Lama by the

International Campaign for Tibet The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a non-profit advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans, ensure their human rights, and protect Tibetan culture and the environment. Founded in 1988, ICT is the world's larges ...

on his birthday on

July 6 Events Pre-1600 * 371 BC – The Battle of Leuctra shatters Sparta's reputation of military invincibility. * 640 – Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under 'Amr ibn al-'As defeat the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egy ...

2014. In 2017, she took part in several Nasty Women exhibitions and co-organized the one in Amsterdam at Josilda da Conceição Gallery. The money raised was donated to

Women on Waves Women on Waves (WoW) is a Dutch nongovernmental organization ( NGO) created in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts, in order to bring reproductive health services, particularly non-surgical abortion services and education, to women in coun ...

, COC Amsterdam and She Decides. On March 21, 2018, the

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March since declared by the United Nations in 1966. In South Africa, the country in which the event took place that gave rise to the observance, the ...

, Airco offered a

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

Sylvana Simons Silvana Hildegard "Sylvana" Simons (Dutch pronunciation: Help:IPA/Dutch, ɪlˈvaːnaː ˈsimɔns born 31 January 1971) is a Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Surinamese-born Dutch politician and former television presenter. She served a ...

at the Open Space Contemporary Art Museum in Amsterdam. With the art project ''Monument for Martin Luther King'', Airco asked two sculptors to create 50 sculptures of King with the intention to connect past and present.

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

Barack Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

and

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

were among the 49 other recipients of a sculpture.

Selected solo exhibitions

*2018 Front Gallery, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam *2016 Arti Gallery, Rokin 114, Amsterdam *2016 The Night of the Dictatorship, De Balie, Amsterdam *2016 Open Studios Port Morris, South Bronx, NYC *2015 Little Easter Solo show, LES, New York, NY *2015 This Art Fair, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam *2014 Art of What, Gemak, The Hague *2014 The Other Side of Light, Art in Redlight, Amsterdam *2013 International Window, Arps & Co Gallery, Amsterdam *2013 Art in Redlight Art Fair, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam *2013 Airco Caravan's Cycling Art Gallery, The Hague and Amsterdam

Personal life

Airco is married to BSNSSMN. They reside in Amsterdam and New York.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caravan, Airco 1965 births Living people 21st-century Dutch artists 21st-century Dutch painters Dutch activists Dutch women human rights activists