FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land Installation view
FOLKERT DE JONG
Fidei Defensor, 2014
Patinated bronze
82 5/8 x 35 3/8 x 25 9/16 in
210 x 90 x 65 cm
Edition of 3
JCG7545
FOLKERT DE JONG
Old DNA, 2014
Patinated bronze
82 5/8 x 35 3/8 x 27 1/2 in
210 x 90 x 70 cm
Edition of 3
JCG7546
FOLKERT DE JONG
From Stately Throne, 2014
Patinated bronze
82 5/8 x 35 3/8 x 33 7/16 in
210 x 90 x 85 cm
Edition of 3
JCG7544
FOLKERT DE JONG
Babel's Maze, 2014
Patinated bronze
86 9/16 x 70 13/16 x 35 3/8 in
220 x 180 x 90 cm
Edition of 3
JCG7548
FOLKERT DE JONG
Spiritual Generator, 2014
Patinated bronze
70 13/16 x 33 7/16 x 27 1/2 in
180 x 85 x 70 cm
JCG7547
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Eye of Jupiter, 2014
Acrylic glass, pigmented polyurethane foam, Styrofoam, spray can, metal, paint brush, wood, plastic, spray paint
82 5/8 x 70 13/16 x 47 3/16 in
210 x 180 x 120 cm
JCG7569
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Last Nation, 2014
Acrylic glass, pigmented polyurethane foam, Styrofoam, spray can, metal, wood, plastic, paint brush, breakaway knife, spray paint
98 3/8 x 27 1/2 x 27 1/2 in
250 x 70 x 70 cm
JCG7570
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Knights Move, 2014
Acrylic glass, pigmented polyurethane foam, metal, wood, plastic, spray paint
98 3/8 x 27 1/2 x 27 1/2 in
250 x 70 x 70 cm
JCG7571
FOLKERT DE JONG
North Meets East, South Meets West, 2014
Patinated bronze
57 1/16 x 27 1/2 x 27 1/2 in
145 x 70 x 70 cm
JCG7745
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Last Definition of Ideas, 2014
Patinated bronze
30 1/2 x 27 x 25 1/2 in
77.5 x 68.6 x 64.8 cm
JCG7754
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Trumps Major I, 2014
Patinated bronze
39 5/16 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
100 x 30 x 30 cm
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Trumps Major II, 2014
Patinated bronze
43 1/4 x 15 11/16 x 11 3/4 in
110 x 40 x 30 cm
Edition of 3
FOLKERT DE JONG
New DNA, 2014
Patinated bronze
3 7/8 x 5 7/8 x 2 3/4 in
10 x 15 x 7 cm
JCG7549
FOLKERT DE JONG
Act of Supremacy, 2014
Patinated bronze
15 11/16 x 11 3/4 x 7 13/16 in
40 x 30 x 20 cm
Edition of 3
JCG7554
FOLKERT DE JONG
Tears of Mars, 2014
Patinated bronze
9 x 12 9/16 x 9 in
23 x 32 x 23 cm
JCG7551
FOLKERT DE JONG
Tendence of Frost, 2014
Patinated bronze
5 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 16 in
14 x 44.5 x 40.6 cm
JCG7755
FOLKERT DE JONG
King's Ransom, 2014
Patinated bronze
14 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 12 1/2 in
36.8 x 26.7 x 31.8 cm
Edition of 3
JCG7756
FOLKERT DE JONG
Nervous System I-VI, 2014
Patinated bronze
Each: 9 7/16 x 30 11/16 x 2 3/4 in
24 x 78 x 7 cm
Edition of 6
JCG7563.1
JCG7564.1
JCG7565.1
JCG7566.1
JCG7567.1
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Mineral World I, 2014
Patinated bronze
35 3/8 x 12 9/16 x 7 13/16 in
90 x 32 x 20 cm
JCG7555
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Mineral World II, 2014
Patinated bronze
35 3/8 x 12 9/16 x 7 13/16 in
90 x 32 x 20 cm
JCG7556
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Mineral World III, 2014
Patinated bronze
35 3/8 x 12 9/16 x 7 13/16 in
90 x 32 x 20 cm
JCG7557
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Mineral World IV, 2014
Patinated bronze
35 3/8 x 12 9/16 x 7 13/16 in
90 x 32 x 20 cm
JCG7558
FOLKERT DE JONG
The Mineral World V, 2014
Patinated bronze
35 3/8 x 12 9/16 x 7 13/16 in
90 x 32 x 20 cm
JCG7559
FOLKERT DE JONG Spiritual Generator, 2014 Patinated bronze 70 13/16 x 33 7/16 x 27 1/2 in. (180 x 85 x 70 cm)
FOLKERT DE JONG The Holy Land
MARCH 19 – APRIL 25, 2015
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 19, 6 – 8 PM
James Cohan Gallery is pleased to announce The Holy Land, an exhibition of new works by Folkert de Jong, opening on March 19th and running through April 25th. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, March 19th from 6 – 8 PM.
Folkert de Jong is internationally recognized for figurative sculptures—executed in the inorganic industrial materials of Styrofoam and polyurethane—that mine issues of empire, trauma and myth. In 2012, De Jong made his first works in cast bronze, bringing experimentation and edge to the medium, as well as engaging in the history of the monument and public art.
The works in The Holy Land were developed for De Jong’s recent solo exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire, UK, where, in collaboration with the Royal Armories in Leeds, the artist made 3D scans of suits of armor belonging to Henry VIII. The resulting bronze sculptural portraits depict a battle-ready ruler at three stages of his life, from the young peacock to the fat stoic. Old DNA, which grew out of the monarch’s final suit of armor, depicts a top-heavy cannonball of a man, with legs that hollow out from the back. An external nervous system or energy field running around the figure—derived from casting channels that would typically be clipped off the work before completion—is exposed, unprotected.
The bronzes are shown alongside casts of contemporary firearms from the Armories’ collection and a group of new mixed-media figures trapped inside multicolored Plexiglas vitrines. The Holy Land addresses the idea of preservation, in the sense of both immortalization and protection. How do we decide what to remember from history, and what do we leave out? How do facts erode, and how can we restore them? “The scene De Jong creates does not feel like an official history,” writes the Hepworth curator Sam Lackey, “but rather a hidden or unseen moment—an uncovered conspiracy from the past.” The Holy Land is frozen but alive, a series of monuments built from unexpected connections, with meaning gathering at the seams.
De Jong has designed the costumes for CRY, TROJANS!, the Wooster Group and Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring co-production of Troilus and Cressida, which starts its second New York run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn in March 2015. Upcoming in April, De Jong will be included in the major exhibition Picasso in Contemporary Art at the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg. From May to August, the Kranenburgh Museum in Bergen will host a group exhibition curated by De Jong, Manifesten, including artists, designers and architects as varied as Walter van Beirendonck, the Wooster Group and RAAAF (Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances).
Folkert de Jong (born 1972, Egmond aan Zee) has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Musée d’Évreux, Normandy; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Middelheim Museum, Antwerp; and the Musée d’art Contemporain, Rocheouart. Selected recent group exhibitions include Post-Picasso, Museu Picasso, Barcelona; Music Palace, Fondation Boghossian, Brussels; Dramedy, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Texas; The Anatomy Lesson, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Selected collections include the GEM Art Museum, The Hague; the KRC Collection, Rotterdam; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Lever House Art Collection; the Rabo Art Collection; and the Saatchi Collection. He was the recipient of the Prix de Rome in 2003. De Jong lives and works in Amsterdam.
Production of this exhibition has been made possible in part by the generous financial support of the Mondriaan Fund.
For press inquiries, please contact Jane Cohan at jane@jamescohan.com or 212-714-9500.