Machteld Rullens, a Dutch artist based in The Hague, is presenting her second solo exhibition with Page (NYC) titled “Beacon Road,” jointly staged at Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York. The show features works created during a residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Connecticut, using discarded cardboard boxes that Rullens collects from recycling bins and other sources. Her sculptures, which initially appear ceramic or metallic, are actually intricate assemblages of cardboard, exploring form, commodity, and waste. The exhibition marks a departure from her earlier work, with crushed and folded forms and exposed bolts conveying a sense of restrained energy.
This exhibition matters because it highlights a rising artist whose practice challenges traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture while engaging with pressing themes of consumption and sustainability. Rullens’s sold-out debut at Liste Art Fair Basel in 2024 and her collaboration between two New York galleries underscore growing market interest in her work. The use of found materials and the global variations in cardboard sourcing—from the Netherlands to Senegal to Mexico—add a layer of social commentary that resonates with contemporary conversations about waste and e-commerce.