Museum MORE turns ten in 2025, and we are celebrating this milestone with Reality Check – 10 Years of MORE, 10 Years of Realism. In this exhibition, MORE introduces the very latest Dutch Realism.
In Reality Check, Museum MORE presents work by more than 50 contemporary artists. From young to old, from established to recently graduated, and working in a huge variety of media: oils, photography, video, installation art, sculpture, drawing and graphic art. The most important criterion: the work is made in the Netherlands in the ten years that Museum MORE has been around.
Realism is alive and kicking!
Those keeping track of contemporary developments in art will be able to tell you: Realism is very much alive and kicking! Contemporary artists increasingly opt for figuration in their explorations of reality. Because it’s this reality that realism is all about. But what exactly is reality? This has been a significant question since the advent of realism in art, and it is perhaps more relevant than ever in modern times. Our age is characterised by a multitude of images and information. Fact checking is essential. Artificial intelligence presents us with an artificial reality, and elsewhere ‘alternative truths’, manipulated images and Instagram filters are inescapable. There has hardly ever been such great demand for authenticity. Our age needs a reality check, and contemporary realists try to give us just that.
Authenticity and completeness
Every artist has their own way of addressing, mirroring and questioning reality. Artists like Wolfgang Messing, Caja Boogers and Daniela Schwabe do so by reflecting on contemporary visual culture. In a time in which huge numbers of images flash before us, and in which it is impossible to guarantee their authenticity, realism can offer a way out: an opportunity to dwell upon what is real.
Artists like Esiri-Erheriene Essi, Anya Janssen, Kaili Smith and Dion Rosina take a very different approach to challenging reality. They use their art to bring stories that were previously often ignored into the limelight: perspectives from the LGBTQIA+ community or cultural histories, for example. By showing their personal perspectives, they test reality: is it telling the whole story? Are there not multiple, personal realities, and are these all represented?
Considering reality
For years, realism has captured ‘the real life’ and contemporary times. Realist artists use a recognisable, straightforward visual language to consider the real world. And this includes the darker sides of reality. Ronald Ophuis depicts international violence and conflict in his monumental paintings, in order to focus attention on the subject. During the coronavirus pandemic, Rosa Everts made a pencil drawing every day to record changing human behaviour, and with his Paper Monument for the Paperless, Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries gives a face to people without residence permits.
Progress and tradition
Realists sometimes choose innovative means to capture the contemporary reality: works in Reality Check include a digital painting by Sidi El Karchi and a 3D-printed sculpture by Telmo Pieper.
And sometimes they opt for traditional media: oil on canvas, ceramics (e.g. Koos Buster and Kira Fröse) and textiles (Joyce Overheul, Leonie Schneider) are all well represented in contemporary art. And by using these media, today’s realists reflect on contemporary reality: in hurried and fleeting times, a handmade, unique artwork can offer welcome refuge.
Book
The exhibition is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated catalogue, with an essay by Curator Sito Rozema. In his essay, Sito uses the artists in the exhibition to outline contemporary Dutch Realism and put it in historical perspective. The more than 50 artists in this art book also offer their personal take on realism. The book will be published in Dutch/English by Uitgeverij Waanders, and is available in our Museum Shop in Gorssel.
Artists
Maudy Alferink, Sam Andrea, Raafat Ballan, Jhonie van Boeijen, Caja Boogers, Bo Bosk, Casper Braat, Eline Brontsema, Koos Buster, Tony Dočekal, Esiri Erheriene-Essi, Bobbi Essers, Rosa Everts, Kira Fröse, Jasper Hagenaar, David Haines, Arjan van Helmond, Lieven Hendriks, HIMMELSBACH, Abul Hisham, Merel Jansen, Anya Janssen, Jemima de Jonge, Tengbeh Kamara, Sidi El Karchi, Maja Klaassens, Maeve van Klaveren, Florens Kool, Katrin Korfmann, Lynne Leegte, Onno Meeuwsen, Wolfgang Messing, Marco Niemeijer, Andrei Nițu, Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, Lenny Oosterwijk, Ronald Ophuis, Joyce Overheul, Menno Pasveer, Telmo Pieper, Gabrielle Pouillon, Anna Reerds, Dion Rosina, Marjolein Rothman, Leonie Schneider, Daniela Schwabe, Kaili Smith, Robin Speijer, Leon Stoffelen, TINKEBELL, Tom van Veen, Sam Werkhoven, Ina van Zyl
