Fijne Vleeswaarden, Bas de Wit’s first major solo exhibition, is a joint
project by Museum Het Domein and DSM. De Wit’s sculptures, paintings and
installations will therefore be on display not only in the museum but also at
DSM’s Sittardse Poststraat offices.
DSM has been a patron of the arts for more than a century, and in that time it
has assembled its own DSM Art Collection. The artistic roots of that
collection are regional, but DSM is a multinational company and, like Museum
Het Domein, looks far beyond provincial and national borders. The two
organisations have now embarked on a joint search for artists from the
province of Limburg who have the same far-reaching ambitions. The young artist
Bas de Wit (b. 1977) is the first to meet this description.
This makes the exhibition Fijne Vleeswaarden a unique event, and one that we
hope will set the tone for the future. Partnership between the business sector
and cultural organisations such as Museum Het Domein presents boundless
opportunities to explore new avenues and to encourage and support young
talent. Conversely, the artists will challenge and hone the perceptions not
only of museum-goers who seek out their work, but also of unsuspecting DSM
employees on the way to their offices. This encounter can generate new ideas
and, with luck, help viewers break out of their habitual thought patterns,
find creative, novel solutions and see the everyday world through fresh eyes.
Art makes people aware that there are many different ways of seeing the
wonders of reality. A good work of art evokes a multitude of stories,
associations and new insights.
All these themes are concentrated in the work of Bas de Wit. He veers from
painting to sculpture and back, making unexpected connections in both
disciplines. As he sees it, people, animals and consumer society are
hopelessly doomed to coexist. His seemingly fresh-faced, light-hearted tales
have a sarcastic undertone, and his works transform the innocent world of
toys, comic books, gnomes and Sesame Street heroes into a faded dream. Bas de
Wit makes his protagonists modern icons of the illusion on which contemporary
society is founded. He does so with a touch that is light, colourful,
expressive and almost cheerful, proving himself a master of the art of
omitting the inessential.
