28 january 2021, Flor Linckens
Future archeology in 7 editions (for only 185 euros)
In collaboration with the Dutch artist Marjolijn de Wit , Gallery Gerhard Hofland published seven editions. These editions can be seen in a special online only exhibition on GalleryViewer. De Wit's work can be read as a series of puzzles, that invite you to interpret the work, but also misinterpret it.
Marjolijn de Wit: “How will we look at our contemporary society in three hundred or a thousand years? What people leave behind is a common thread in my work. I like misinterpretations. Consider for instance the artificial reefs that appear along coast lines as a result of debris from bus and plane wrecks. In a thousand years, will people think that those wrecks were deliberately placed there? Or suppose there is an earthquake. A museum is falling into ruins. Are you able to distinguish archaeological shards, such as parts of utensils or art, from fragments of the building? I look around me and wonder: what would I make of this in ten thousand years?”
De Wit combines elements from nature with abstract forms, as well as objects made by human hands — objects that refer to our current society. For her collages, she regularly uses ceramics, which represent both the present and the past. Combined, a kind of archeology of the future emerges, in which she speculates about the future interpretation of her works. It is interesting to see that there appears to be no visible hierarchy in her compositions, which means that you as a viewer get look at it with a certain freedom, without getting the feeling that your eyes are being guided. For that reason, you will probably experience her work differently every time.
There is also a kind of pleasant chaos present in her compositions, especially when you consider that people are perpetually trying to gain control over the natural world. The artist makes an effort to release that control (at least in part) during the painting process. De Wit: “In my work I’m in control for about eighty percent and in the remaining twenty percent, I’m not. That part that I have no control over, that's where it gets interesting. You have people who start with a blank canvas. But painting is so complicated that I make a sketch in advance before starting on the canvas.”
De Wit attended a residency at the Rijksakademie in 2008-2009 and her work has been exhibited in the Torrance Art Museum in California, Museum De Pont, Kunstmuseum Den Haag and galleries in Milan and New York.
