Colours have their own symbolism in cultures, religions and history. Black and white are, strictly speaking, not colours. All the same, light and dark play a major office in fine art and blueprint and have various symbolic meanings. 'Black & White | Symbolic Meaning in Art and Design' presents works from the museum collection that show how contemporary artists and designers interpret the symbolic meaning of black and white. The exhibition features works by artists including Jorge Baldessari, Maria Roosen, Alet Pilon,Jeroen Eisinga, Marinus Boezem, Bart Hess, Célio Braga, Studio Formafantasma and Felieke van der Leest.

Bezoeker bij de zwanenrok. Foto: Josefina Eikenaar
Wish I had one (Zwanenrok) – Alet Pilon

BLACK – WHITE

Opposites
Colours are wavelengths reflected by objects to the human eye. White is pure light and black is the absenteeism of calorie-free. In many cultures, these two not-colours are associated with life and expiry rituals. For essential questions nearly identity, the opposites black and white are oft called. In Marinus Boezem's (*1934) installation 'The absence of the artist'(1970), as well as in the oeuvre of the late Anna Verwey-Verschuure (1935-1980), blackness and white are used to address themes such as identity, presence and absence. Argentinian conceptual artist Jorge Baldessari (*1931) makes optimal use of the contrast between black and white in his embroidered verse form 'Tools' (1994-95), a conversation with the divine creator who expelled flesh from paradise. In the more abstract works by Lam de Wolf (*1949) and Elke Lutgerink (*1982), black and white appear as both each other's opposites and continuum.

Bezoeker bij het werk van Alet Pilon. Foto: Josefina Eikenaar
Zwarte Madonna – Alet Pilon

WHITE

Innocence, purity, loyalty
In many cultures, white is seen as the color of innocence and virginity, purity, loyalty and peace. In the West, white clothing and decoration are symbolic of the joy effectually births, baptisms and weddings. The colour is also associated with women equally virgins, mothers and caregivers. These themes observe a playful and poetic expression in the works by Regula Maria Müller (*1961), Maria Roosen (*1957) and Hinke Schreuders (*1969) and the jewellery by Felieke van der Leest (*1968), but they besides examine female roles.

In many African and Asian cultures, as well as in medieval Europe, white is the traditional colour of death and mourning. In the West, meanwhile, blackness has symbolised mourning since the Renaissance. Miriam Verbeek (*1960) refers to these intercultural differences in her serial of black and white mourning jewellery. White represents purity, holiness and eternity in religions including Christianity and Islam. Christian Bastiaans' (*1951) 'Madonna of Humility' (2003) from the seriesHurt Modelsreflects the Christian pregnant of white every bit an expression of purity. However, the delicate sculpture made of iron wire and gauze primarily explores the vulnerability of human existence.

Creative person Alet Pilon (*1949) also explores the symbolic connotations of black and white in her work and often gives it a surreal twist. Her white 'ZT (Swan wings)' from 1995 is a sculptural piece that tin can be worn around the shoulders. Her piece of work evokes associations with the famous ballet piece of the dying swan and the fate of the mythical Greek hero Icarus. Icarus' wings of swan feathers and wax melted when he flew too close to the dominicus. Pilon'due south swan wings seem to be an echo of this shattered dream.

'Colours are wavelengths reflected by objects to the human middle. White is pure light and blackness is the absence of low-cal'

Zaalopname Black & White. Foto Josefina Eikenaar
Gallery view – Black & White

Black

Death, mourning and the concealed
Black has different associations across cultures and religions: decease, mystery and the darker side of human nature but also power, nobility and prestige. The works by Bart Hess (*1984) and Brazilian creative person Célio Braga (*1963) subtly represent the hidden sensual side of humans. For his 'Stimulus: cord reflexes, Subject B.Yard.' (2016), Hess was inspired by the tactility of pare, and specifically the move of testicles. He partly developed this interactive installation in the museum'south TextielLab. Braga's objects from theNegrosserial are intense blackness shapes that refer to processes of death, mourning and transformation. A fascinating sculpture that defies traditional representation is Pilon's 'Blackness Madonna' (2018): a night, hairy half human, half fauna dressed in tough black gloves and boots with a holster slung effectually her waist. At the same time, she tenderly holds her child in her arms in a symbol of maternal care.

From 29 March 2019, come up and environs yourself with the quiet of the works in 'Black & White| Symbolic Significant in Art and Design.