My trip to see Folkert Dr Jong at the Hartford Wadsworth

"The Shooting"De Jong


I think what drew me into this piece of art work was the fact that it looked scary . I hate scary things yet always am so inquisitive about what they are. The fear that I felt is what made be want to get closer tot he supcuture.
The artist Folkert de Jong known for his large scale sculptor and installations . These life size
almost scary , scenes some human figures and props are eye catchers. De Jong was born in the Nertherlands 1972 . He studied at he Visual Arts and the Rijk Acadeeny fit Visual Arts where he
lives in works.
De Jong works reflects contemporary politics , society, and war. " In 2008 an interview with De Jonk said " The only way to rise above the problems we are confronted with is to turn them into grotesque. The grotesques allows us to see that everything is relative. the problems we are
confronting is not new. these things happened before" (Wadsworth Antheneum)
"The Shooting ...At Watou" is made of Styrofoam and polyurethane . Unlike paint this art wo
is not environmentally friendly or safe. These materials are toxic. The materials chosen for
this piece are meant for warfare , which gives more understand to the piece. War fare material
used to express the problems of war of the world helps to make the piece more interesting.
"The Shooting" was created for the as a site specific work in Watou, Belgium. Almost like a voice
for salves in war . This must be the purpose of the piece . To give voice to those that have none.
This is a very political piece.
My personal experience with this piece was fear at the beginning . I saw a male face that did not shoe kindness. My parents coming from a poor country some times with war at the door. I began to think of the poor people with no help.I saw a lot of culture in the piece from the dressing of the clothes .

The bright pink colors were not colors of war time. In fact pink to me
represented women. SO this meant the cultures around the world used color symbols different then me. The face of the piece was older. It told the story of war not just of today but, war of
yesterday. The color I remember most in this piece was the pink. For some reason it stood out on a light blue base in the uniform. Color itself was a personal experience I learned. There we three reasons to my experience of color. First the color on the raw material made the mood of
he environment. Second the information given by my memory to my senses , and last the memory over and over stimulated my mind. This gave me some enjoyment. I think the balance in this piece was the balance in color, from top top bottom. There is a light blue base with ping over tone. from head to toe. There is height to this piece. The shooting has very rough edges. I did not want to try to touch it but it looked that way. This piece is an expression
piece. A masculine piece is what I see. The features of a Asian society gave made em reflect on
"Oriental ism the investigation which sparked of the historical and ideology circumstances
surriond the fabrication of the Near East as the , antimoserms, anti
humanistmand semi -barbaric anthesis to European modernity" (The Art of History 1998)