Madelon Uljee at Big Art Rotterdam

After The Storm

From 11 to 13 September 2026, Root Gallery presents After the Storm, a new installation by Madelon Uljee at Big Art Rotterdam. Created for the monumental spaces of the former Codrico factory, the work brings together sculpted leather in deep shades of red, burgundy, aubergine and orange.

At the centre, overlapping forms seem to gather and fold into one another. Around them, individual leaves travel across the wall as though the wind has only just subsided. The installation holds the space between upheaval and recovery: a landscape momentarily disturbed, yet already preparing to grow again.

Drawing from nature

Madelon Uljee begins with a close observation of the natural world. She is drawn to its structures, transformations and details that can easily pass unnoticed: the curve of a leaf, the opening of a flower or the traces left behind by movement.

Rather than reproducing these forms, Uljee enlarges, isolates and reshapes them. What begins as something familiar becomes sculptural and slightly elusive. Her works appear organic, yet they are carefully constructed; soft in appearance, yet commanding in their physical presence.

In After the Storm, this tension is felt throughout. The leaves appear to move freely, while each element has been precisely shaped and positioned. Their arrangement suggests a single passing gesture, frozen at the point where movement turns into stillness.

Madelon works with high-quality leftover leather from the haute couture and luxury fashion industry. Luxury brands often order more leather than they ultimately use for products such as bags and sneakers. She gives these beautiful materials a second life, transforming them into sculptural leaves and unique works of art.

Madelon Uljee’s leather wall installation After the Storm presented as a complete composition in an interior.

Madelon Uljee’s After the Storm, a sculptural wall installation of burgundy and orange leather leaves.

Shaped by hand in leather

Leather is central to Uljee’s work. She values the material for its tactility, flexibility and strength, as well as for the way it carries the marks of her process. By cutting, folding and shaping each section by hand, she creates depth without concealing the character of the material itself.

Light moves across the curved surfaces and settles into the folds, allowing the colours to shift throughout the day. From a distance, the separate elements form a rhythmic composition. Seen up close, the attention moves towards the texture, seams and subtle metal details.

This balance between material, colour and craftsmanship gives Uljee’s wall sculptures a strong relationship with their surroundings. They do not simply occupy a wall; they alter how that wall, and the space around it, is perceived.

A work that can grow with its setting

After the Storm consists of three larger sculptural works accompanied by individual leather leaves. Together, they form an expansive installation, but the composition is not fixed. The larger works can be acquired separately, while the loose leaves can extend the movement across a wall or form smaller groupings of their own.

This gives each installation a distinct character. The work may stretch across a generous wall, respond to an architectural feature or appear in a more concentrated arrangement. Root Gallery can advise private collectors, art advisers and interior architects on a composition suited to a particular space.

Red and aubergine leather wall sculpture with floating leaves from Madelon Uljee’s After the Storm.

Interior view showing the scale of After the Storm, a sculptural leather wall installation by Madelon Uljee.

**See After the Storm at Big Art**

Big Art offers artists the rare opportunity to create work on a scale that is difficult to accommodate within a conventional art fair stand. Its exhibition-like setting invites visitors to spend time with the works and experience how they relate to the architecture around them.

For After the Storm, that encounter is essential. Its depth, shifting shadows and sense of movement only fully emerge in the space itself. The former Codrico factory, with its raw industrial character and imposing proportions, provides an exceptional setting for its first presentation.

Root Gallery presents new work by Madelon Uljee, Saïd Kinos and Jan Theun van de Rees at Big Art Rotterdam from 11 to 13 September 2026.

Come and experience the works in the remarkable surroundings of the former Codrico factory. For further information, tickets or advice on acquiring a work, please contact Root Gallery.