14 march 2024, Pienk de Gaay Fortman
Empathetic artist Jonat Deelstra is showcasing his latest paintings at GoMulan Gallery
In his newest series of paintings titled The Development of Everyday Life (2024), Deelstra portrays everyday city scenes where workers are the main characters. Deelstra's unique style includes a surprising perspective, powerful color elements, and layered painting techniques. As a multi-talented artist, he excels in painting, ceramics, graphic work, and installations. Themes that frequently appear in his work are migration, religion, identity, climate change, and death. The Gen Y artist acknowledges the significant challenges we are facing: "As long as I can tell myself that I am on the right side and the other is the villain, the world is reasonably understandable," says Deelstra.
The paintings in The Development of Everyday Life (2024) initially appear cheerful with their purple, pink, and blue pastel tones. However, upon closer inspection and interpretation of the situations, viewers may encounter an apocalyptic danger. For instance, in The Almighty Ambivalence (2024), amidst the soft pink mist, two workers in bright orange jackets are seen on a staircase performing tasks for a traffic light.
Jonat Deelstra, Screw It, 2024, GoMulan Gallery
In Bridging the Gap (2024), The Pros and Cons of Fossil Fuel (2024), and Screw It (2024), workers can be seen. In the latter, Deelstra uses attractive colors and sightlines that lead the eye to airport workers checking the plane. 'Screw it' has a double meaning, in the sense of 'fixing' or 'forget it' because people shamelessly continue to fly despite the climate crisis. With this series, Deelstra pays tribute to the construction workers, who are essential when it comes to facilitating our luxurious infrastructure.
While Deelstra anonymizes the workers by depicting them small and with their backs turned, the policymakers managing this policy are completely invisible. The artist seems to signal this in the work Beyond Authority (2024). Here too, the gray contrasts with the soft pastel colors of the elongated building. The tree trunk blocking the entrance reinforces the impression that this is inaccessible terrain. Are we seeing an ivory tower where leaders make decisions with significant impact on humans and nature?
Jonat Deelstra, Beyond Authority, 2024, GoMulan Gallery
Deelstra wonders how he relates to these power structures: "Just like the generations before us, ours has a revolutionary character. We feel like we are at a crossroads in history. It feels like a grand theatre stage - we are playing our part in various global stories. Examples include upcoming changes due to artificial intelligence, nuclear threat, the rise of popular far-right and far-left politicians, the climate crisis, etc. These stories are usually built around protagonists and antagonists. As long as I can tell myself that I am on the right side and the other is the villain, the world is reasonably understandable. I try to shed new light on these stories and blend these roles. I enrich myself by stepping out of the binary view of good and bad."
Jonat Deelstra, The Pros and Cons of Fossil Fuel, 2024, GoMulan Gallery
To stay with the artist's metaphor: who are the protagonists and who are the antagonists? Are the workers slaves to the system or accomplices? Are the leaders the cause of decline or the change makers? Do the activists, who raise issues by causing blockades (think: gluing to paintings or occupying the highway), stand on the 'right' side of history? Is progress in this context more like regression? Deelstra confirms the power of art to ask these kind of questions. He does this by balancing between empathy and aesthetics, dreams and reality, anonymizing and revealing, childlike optimism and deep darkness. Those who surround themselves with his art become co-investigators of what it means to be human on this planet.
Jonat Deelstra, Borderlife publication, 2023, GoMulan Gallery
Jonat Deelstra (1991) achieved his Bachelor's Degree in Illustration from the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2018. Since then, he has been creating paintings, graphic design, and installations. Following his successful projects 'People' (2018) and 'Funeral Home: The North Sea' (2022), he further developed his ceramic skills during a residency at the EKWC (2023). Deelstra's art has been acquired by corporate collections such as AkzoNobel, KPMG, and Normec. He has been featured at various art fairs, including Art Rotterdam (2021-2022), Big Art (2021), PAN Amsterdam (2023), and Ballroom Project (2023). His compelling publication 'BorderLife' (2023) has recently been released with textual contributions from Edwin Becker, chief curator at the Van Gogh Museum.
The solo exhibition 'Jonat Deelstra - The Development of Everyday Life' will be on display at GoMulan Gallery in Amsterdam from March 8th to April 7th 2024.
