Amsterdam Art Fair 2017

Wednesday May 17th to Sunday May 21st

For Amsterdam Art Fair 2017 Gerhard Hofland is proud to present an exhibition with new sculptures and paintings by Dutch artist Bas de Wit. This exhibition marks the first collaboration between the artist and the Amsterdam gallery, which will be continued during De Wit’s first solo-exhibition in the gallery opening October 14.

Throughout the paintings, sculptures and installations of Bas de Wit a peculiar world unfolds. Modern icons such as gnomes, pirates and street-workers, alongside obscure figures, animals and utensils appear in all sorts of absurdist scenes that are as alienating as they are fascinating. It is a world without logic or reason, which not only can be seen as a clownesque commentary on the art-world, but also as a reflection on the elusiveness of life itself. Behind every figure there is a narrative, a situation whose aesthetic appeal triggers and depends on our moral opinion. On the other hand, the figures of De Wit are both shocking and light-hearted, gleaming in a thoughtful irony. Life has to be lived, not rationalised, and in the wake of a contemporary art already strangled by theory, De Wit advocates a less conceptual approach. His works are a contemporary Comédie Humaine, putting the struggle of life into a humorous perspective.

Bas de Wit (1977, Budel, NL) lives and works in Maastricht. He graduated from the Monumental Arts Department from the Academy of Fine Arts, Maastricht, and achieve a post-graduate degree at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 2008, De Wit was award the Koninklijke Prijs voor de Vrije Schilderkunst. De Wit enjoyed much acclaim in Germany with Philipp von Rosen Galerie, while in the Netherlands his work has been shown at De Kunsthal, Museum Bommel van Dam, and at solo-exhibitions in Het Domein, Sittard, and Het Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht.

Amsterdam Art Fair 2017
17 – 21 May 2017
Kunsthal Koper
Huidekoperstraat 28, Amsterdam
Booth 31