In the recently very stylishly restored Great Expectations House during the Monuments Day on 9-10 September 2023 in Heusden.
“And suddenly strangers appear, people clearly not from here. Clowns or wandering actors that play us scenes as strange as themselves. The pieces somewhat embarrass us right-thinking spectators. Perhaps we recognize ourselves in it, it’s like looking in a mirror. Yet we don’t want to get mad at these traveling artists, they’re just jesters after all… But wait, what happens now?”, so begins an accompanying text by the photographer and film-maker Raoef Mamedov about this five-part exhibition, which again features people with Down syndrome.
The photos, which testify to a fabulous technique and great theatrical ability, fascinate through a Caravaggesque interplay of light and dark and razor-sharp realism.
Mamedov was inspired for these photos by works by Hieronymus Bosch, while retaining the composition of ‘The Last Supper’, which is also shown in a smaller format at the exhibition. The game of citing and alluding to art and cultural history gets a surprising sequel with this work.
On either side of the central panel, which shows the master magician, are two panels, each with three ‘actors’ who confront the audience with human vices such as the folly and credulity, the greed and allurements of the game. The artist depicts the subjects in such a way that recognition of form and confusion about content begin to compete for priority with the viewer. Does Mamedov make us a voyeur or is he holding up a mirror to us? In any case, he creates the suspicion that for this artist there is a deeper layer beneath the absurdities of existence more than plausible.
This exhibition by the internationally acclaimed artist Raoef Mamedov is the promising start of the collaboration between Great Expectations Art Projects and Galerie Lilja Zakirova in Heusden, the city with rich historical and cultural traditions.
Great Expectations Art Projects
Burchtstraat 3
5256 EB Heusden
After this weekend the exhibition can be viewed on appointment: +31651193831
