Folkert de Jong (1972)
Large-as-life scenes populated by doleful harlequins, overlords, soldiers. Blanketed in deceptively innocent tints of baby blue, pink and pistachio, their grimaces speak volumes. Folkert de Jong is explicit and direct in expressing his fascination for the human condition. His sculptures depict misfortune, avarice or disaster, often with overt allusions to the history of man and art: the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi, the canvases of Picasso, the wistful white objects of Robert Gober or the ballerinas of Edgar Degas.
Though realistic, De Jong’s human figures are created from various types of foam rubber and plastic, materials that until recently were the purview of architects, contractors and Hollywood set designers. As contemporary sculptor, De Jong made a deliberate choice for lightweight polystyrene, PUR foam, and later liquid Styrofoam construction sealant. All materials, which have their origins in the American petrochemical industry, were originally developed for military applications and have only since the nineteen-fifties been in common use as construction material; but yet, they are still little-known in the art of sculpting. Within these “raw materials” lie many layers of meaning, against which De Jong profiles himself and on which he builds.
Fascination
For De Jong, a grotesque approach to ethical dilemmas is the only approach. To reach us, his sculptures must be monstrously large, bizarre and alien - the same qualities that fascinate him in the work of his contemporary and inspiration, Paul McCarthy. In some sense, this makes the experience of De Jong’s sculptures hyper-realistic. Not finely wrought down to the details, but always unerringly eloquent.
De Jong began his quest for material and form at the Rijksakademie (1998-1999). Honing his skills with the vocabulary of the horror film genre and performance art, he finally settled on the art of sculpting: a classical discipline, but one mastered with unconventional materials, a feel for the time and the creation of illusions. Artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein before him were masters of this art - and fascinated De Jong as he discovered his own tone. With a mastery of anatomy not unlike that of Renaissance painter Luca Signorelli (1445-1523), De Jong has an unmistakable sense of the details to use to catch a mood or a situation. His oeuvre now comprises a decade of work, and has been awarded many prizes, including the Prix de Rome Sculpture, The Hague Sculpture Award and the Charlotte Köhler Prize.
Two recent (2009) works by Folkert de Jong have now been acquired for the Rabo Art Collection. Circle of Trust (Mother and Son) is a life-sized sculpture of mother with child on her arm, a new Pietà in a long line of artistic predecessors of this motif. Heritage depicts an old greybeard juxtaposed with a young boy. They sit side by side, contemplating, as if connected by some silent bond. Both works exude an air of intimacy, and seem to herald a new chapter in De Jong's work, one in which conflict is giving way to rapprochement and dialogue.
