November 26, 2011 - January 14, 2012


The Man from Delft
For his new exhibition in Amsterdam, Folkert de Jong removed the body of a man from Delft from his coffin, the Dutch prince William of Orange (1533-1586), and suspended it, leaving it hovering subtly in a gallery space. The dead prince’s charred hands lie crossed on his lavish, fur-trimmed dressing gown while his sleep of death produces not monsters but visions full of meaning. A gigantic harlequin sits on the floor, thoughtfully watching him and the four other figures, unnoticed. He is the eternal outsider, who does not easily allow himself to be bound by any system, but observes and reflects on that system all the more keenly from the periphery. The harlequin figure is a constant theme in De Jong’s work, possibly the artist’s alter ego: free but consequently alienated from today’s society, with its emphasis on structure and efficiency. De Jong’s harlequin appears in a different guise each time. In the present exhibition, his body is slowly becoming overgrown with fragile nettles, symbolising what is new, untamed, and above all unpredictable.