Kaspar Dejong 1995
Josilda da Conceição Gallery
In his paintings and sculptures Kaspar Dejong (1995) confronts the viewer with a transformed version of reality. Dejong re-uses images from daily life and deconstructs these objects and images in such a way that their signals lose meaning and are being questioned. The work of Kaspar Dejong is in line with the semiotic tradition exploring and studying signs and symbols as a significant part of communications. Dejong By depicting everyday life in public space and taking objects and signs out of its initial context, Dejong questions their message. Large scaled monochromes are partly disrupted by colored dots, numbers and letters float between unsteady shapes and forms seem to have been erased unsuccessfully. Interventions in public space tend to question the authority, easthetic and communicational rules of thus sign. With spray- paint, graphite, oil and acrylic paint he often uses letters or numbers to start off his compositions. On the often raw background of the canvas he suppresses, scratches and erases them and so creates with scribbles, color areas and scratches an abstract new language that can be referred to the raw urban elements surrounding us in the modernistic and 21st concrete jungle we tend to call our habitat. In his work Dejong refers partly to the imaginary order of the Israelian philosopher and writer Yuval Noah Harari: human beings are able to rule the world because we can create an imaginary world by inventing stories that we believe are true, but in reality, are fictional. Kaspar Dejong takes an interest in what we communicate in this imaginary order that seems so obviously real to everyone. He changes the meaning of signs and signals that are commonly understood and by doing so alienates us from their context and meaning. With his intriguing sculptures and paintings he creates a new and puzzling universe. Kaspar Dejong (Maastricht, 1995) lives and works in Amsterdam. His work is represented by Josilda da Conceicao gallery in Amsterdam. He graduated from the Willem De Kooning academy in 2017 and exhibited his graduation project ‘Traffic Gaze’ at the DSM office in Sittard. In 2018 he was a resident in Vienna and Barcelona. His work is represented in the Dutch company art collections of DSM, Nationale Nederlanden(NN), Maastricht UMC+ and private ones. Recently his works was exhibited at Art Rotterdam.
