I choose « the Practice (2008) » from the work of the most promising young artist in the Netherlands today, Folkert de Jong.
The first time when I saw his work was on 2010, in ART PARIS (at Le Grand Palais). I remembered that I was really impressed because his dancer was the same as “La Petite Danseuse de 14ans” by Degas. I feel in love with this life size and colorful sculpture. The character really looks like she’s dancing, really in motion. I remembered that I was surprised by the plumth and all the black liquid over her
Folkert de Jong was born in 1972 in Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands. He lives and works now in Amsterdam.
His work consists of huge sculptures groups made in Styrofoam and Polyurethane and installation. De Jong’s installations are life-size representations of disturbing scenes including human figures He takes influence from the horror films and fantasy, cartoons, the history of conflict, war and politics. He’s graduated from the Rijksacademy for Visual Arts (2000) and the Academy for Visual Arts (1996), both in Amsterdam. His first solo exhibition was in 1999. Since 2002, he exhibits every year all around the world. He received in 2003 “Le Prix de Rome” and the “RAI Art Fair Prize Amsterdam” in 2004.
Even if I really like “The Practice”, I love another beautiful work of De Jong: “Les Saltimbanques”
The most attractive thing here is the unhappy faces of the entire group: We can feel their sadness. Even if the softness of the colors produces a peaceful group, their movements, the contrast with their faces is totally different and really