15 july 2022, Wouter van den Eijkel
De bonte mensheid | Interview with Bob Eikelboom
Bob Eikelboom's third solo exhibition at Galerie Fons Welters is about changeability. For De Bonte Mensheid he made paintings in the form of amoebae, single-celled organisms that each time take a different shape and are therefore shapeless. “Man is like an amoeba. If it's right, you'll change your mind and taste." A conversation with a self-proclaimed 9-to-5 artist about things that are simultaneously painful and beautiful.
Bob Eikelboom, Camino Real, 2022, Galerie Fons Welters, photography by Sonia Mangiapane
Dutch artist Bob Eikelboom (NL, 1991) lives and works in Brixton, south London. Eikelboom was educated at the Royal Academy in The Hague and graduated in 2017 from the Royal College of Art in London. He made a name for himself with his so-called magnetic paintings, in which the viewer can determine the composition himself by moving the various elements on the canvas. For the first time in years, he made paintings with epoxy for De Bonte Mensheid. A material that, according to him, fits in seamlessly with this time.
The title of the exhibition is De Bonte Mensheid. That's not a standing expression in Dutch. Where did the title come from and why is it the show’s title?
The title is taken from a photo book from the 1980s. In it, the photographer travels the world to capture images of indigenous peoples and tribes. It's not a substantive reference to that book, but when I got hold of the book again and read the title, I knew this is it. It's an open and catchy title that fits the work I made, like the amoebae, which don't look the same from any angle due to the glossy epoxy layer. Man himself is also a kind of amoeba, as he, if all goes well, constantly changes of opinion and taste. Willem de Kooning once put it succinctly: You have to change to stay yourself.
Bob Eikelboom, Green violet amoeba, 2022, Galerie Fons Welters, photography by Sonia Mangiapane
Why do you think this change is essential?
Because in that change lies freedom. Changeability is freedom and that's all that matters, that's what can make you a balanced person. Conversely, the compulsion to always do everything right is only there when there is no room for failure.
I noticed that you wrote the press release yourself. An accompanying text in first person singular, however obvious, is rare. Why did you write the press release yourself?
I am of the opinion that you should do that yourself. Of course, I made the text in consultation with the gallery, it took a long time, but I wrote it. I started doing that a few shows ago and it's now part and parcel of my practice. It forces you to think about your work and has the advantage that you can address the viewer directly.
It resulted in a very readable text. You tell the reader what you have done, without giving everything away. You state, among other things, that this time is characterized by fakeness and that your choice for working with epoxy has to do with this. How about that?
Let me say this about it: epoxy is not an extremely new material, but oil paint is a lot older. The varnish layer on a 17th-century painting was applied for protection. A layer of epoxy puts a glossy layer over the object and thus adds an extra meaning. Everything is layered, the reality, the news, conversations, social media. Not only through filters but also the content and motivation behind everything. Things are never as they seem, and that's the new norm these days. Fakeness has acquired a new meaning and value over the years. In some cases, it is even a new kind of authenticity. The crystal-clear plastic epoxy layer goes hand in hand with this time for me, partly for that reason, and I predict a future in which this will remain the case for the time
Bob Eikelboom, Talking heads No. 4, 2022, Galerie Fons Welters, photography by Sonia Mangiapane
Is that also what the Talking heads light installation - a string of epoxy heads that are connected to each other by the electrical wire - is about?
Yes, that's right. The term talking heads comes from the world of television, they are people talking on tv, but I don't use it so literally here. My main concern is the difficulty of communicating with each other. This applies both online and beyond. It has always been difficult to communicate, but that seems to have only become more difficult with social media. Time and space for nuance is not really taken. In digital communication, things are quickly interpreted differently or incorrectly. In fact, this is where added value of emoticons, they guide you to a correct understanding of what is being conveyed. That is why I also break a lance for non-verbal communication with Talking heads. It is more open, open to more interpretations and therefore also more empathetic.
In a broader sense, this is also reflected in the public debate. It is getting harder and harder to agree on the facts. You get a kind of two-stream country where debate is conducted by the extremes and you do not hear the silent majority that way. That friction is painful and beautiful at the same time.
Bob Eikelboom, Talking heads No. 3, 2022, Galerie Fons Welters, photography by Sonia Mangiapane
The press release is packed with ideas and concepts, but these must be quite difficult to translate into art works. How do you proceed?
In my head the work always goes on, but I am in my studio during office hours. I'm a 9-to-5 artist – actually from 8 to 7, but that doesn't make sense. I start from a number of core ideas and then I get to work. Then I mainly have to deal with the materials, how they react to each other and formal questions such as: is it hanging, is it standing or is it on the floor?
What comes after De bonte mensheid?
On November 3rd my solo exhibition opens in the Kunstmuseum in The Hague. I'm working on that now. It will be an overview of my magnetic paintings. I'm looking forward to it because it's in The Hague, the city where I grew up and was educated. It will be a small exhibition in a single space, but the content is big.
De Bonte Mensheid of Bob Eikelboom can be seen until July 30 at Galerie Fons Welters in Amsterdam
