Folkert DE JONG: The Bull's Eye

Arario Gallery Seoul Samcheong is please to open The Bull’s Eye, a solo exhibition by the Dutch artist Folkert de Jong, on October 25th, 2012. Since his first solo exhibition in 1999, De Jong has consistently worked with unique materials to present various sculptures that reflect his insightful contemplations on human history. As the first exhibition in Korea to present the influential works by an internationally-celebrated artist, The Bull’s Eye presents a total of 12 works by De Jong, including 4 new works, 8 sculptures and 4 drawings.

The sculptor and installation artist Folkert De Jong is celebrated for his innovative art works that use subsidiary materials used in architecture or film industry, such as Styrofoam and polyurethane. Through the use of these materials, De Jong presents works that focus on various issues concerning the chemical industry, oil economy, modern politics, World War 1 and 2, horror films, and art history. The series of affairs present as subjects in De Jong’s work signifies the immorality of human, such as abuse of science, environmental problems, political carelessness, wars and calamities. Paints in primary colors are indiscreetly poured over the severed or unpolished surface of his life-sized sculptures.

De Jong’s raw materials of Styrofoam and polyurethane are pink, green and blue as they were originally produced by each chemical company. De Jong focuses on the fact that such chemical substances, invented in the 2nd World War, are very environmentally threatening because they do not decompose easily, and that just a small amount of the raw material can produce up to 40 times its original size. Thus De Jong’s materials embody human immorality, environment problems, mass consumption and market economy.

Folkert De Jong’s grotesque bright-colored sculptures in exaggerated poises cast a stark contrast with disgusting dark subjects, and metaphorically and satirically approach issues that have been considered taboo in the past. For example, The Balance (2010) speaks about acts of unjust trades in colonialism. The sculptural installation work presents the 17th century Dutchman Peter de Minuit, the embodiment of unfair trade, who bought Manhattan from the Native Indians for 24 dollars-worth of jewelry, beads and mirrors at the time. The figures in this work stand or sit on oil drums and wooden planks, smiling and holding the pearl necklaces and spears that were given to the Indians in the trade. Folkert De Jong suggests that such unfair and corrupt trade is not only a problem in the past, but has been repeated continuously in history of man to this day.

The viewer comes face to face with pain and death in De Jong’s work, becoming enlightened of his or her own unchanging immorality. The exhibition invites us to take an insightful contemplation on what we need to choose and do in this world today. Folkert De Jong’s The Bull’s Eye is being held throughout December 9th, 2012.

Artist Bio
Born in Netherland in 1972, Folkert De Jong graduated from Rijksacademy for Visual Arts. Since his first solo exhibition in Tilburg in Netherlands in 1999, he continued to show his work in solo exhibitions at Galerie Fons Welters in Amsterdam in 2002, Groninger Museum in 2009, James Cohan Gallery in 2011, and Mackintosh Museum Glasgow in Great Britain in 2012, etc. De Jong has also participated in many group exhibitions, including Shape of Things to Come: New Sculpture at The Saatchi Gallery in London in 2011, and Cryptic: The Use of Allegory in Contemporary Art with a Master Class from Goya at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. He was awarded the Prix de Rome, Sculpture Charlotte Köhler Prize in 2002. Folkert De Jong currently lives and works in Amsterdam, and is preparing for his solo exhibitions at Mudam Luxembourg and Middelheim Museum in Belgium in 2013.