2026, it can’t get any worse, so we make the best!
This is my(video) wish for 2026. So, Imagine …….(click here to see video)
2026!
A Divine Comedy
A Divine Comedy’ 2025
Pen and ink on paper
70 x70 cm
(ENG) Man carrying a load that is not his own.
Overlooked by history and reviewed in the future.
Insignificant proceeds significant and the other way around.
The weight of the load is unknown for those who travel light.
This drawing also marks a new series of paintings by the name Sublime Comedy.
(NL) Een man die een last draagt die niet van hem is.
Over het hoofd gezien door de geschiedenis en herzien in de toekomst.
Onbelangrijk blijkt belangrijk en andersom.
Het gewicht van de last is onbekend voor wie licht reist.
Deze tekening is ook het begin van een nieuwe serie schilderijen met de naam Sublime Comedy.
Space Invaders
Space Invaders 2025
Acrylic on canvas – 100 x 180 cm
Part of the Sublime Comedy series
I sometimes wonder: who is invading whom?
Who owns our shared, “God-given” space?
First, fences were built, then endless walls, until a boundless universe became a cramped space.
The protected golden domains are so restricted that only a narrow mind seems to fit in properly.
T (a junction)
T (a junction)
Pen en ink on paper/ Pen en inkt op papier
70 x 70 cm
2025
Choice is change. It never ends.
Once you have set out in a certain direction, you will never really know what might have happened had you chosen to go the other way.
Conscious choices, however uncertain and debatable, are better than thoughtlessly taking sides.
EXHIBITION: How Can a Person Lose Everything He Owns And Not Lose His Mind, a joined venture.
A special sales exhibition at MICKSART in Emmen, NL, by two artists from Gaza: Ahmed Aldaalsa and Hussain Al Jerjawi. They both depict, as artists, eyewitnesses and suffering subjects from the very start, the hopelessness, violence and dejection in a devastated Gaza.
This exhibition is an initiative by me, Marit Otto and MICKSART gallery owner, Erik Knegt.
The exhibition will run simultaneously with the Harvest exhibition from July 20 to November 9, 2025. In this exhibition some of my latest artworks will be on display as well: Speechless, Sea Of Tranquility and A Mans World (a work in progress).
Auction: Especially for this theme, a pair of curated bio-based sneakers from the Saye brand, X- Made by Marit will also be auctioned and the proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders. Bidding is possible during the opening of both exhibitions.
Visit this exhibition and group exhibition Harvest at MICKSART
from 20 July to 09 November 2025
Captain Grantstraat 24 | T: 06-57193375| E: info@micksartgallery.nl
Opening hours Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. . Different times can be arranged for groups
Revenues go directly to Ahmed and Hussain
Pre sale: https://maritotto.nl/pre-sale-how-can-anyone-lose-everything-he-owns-and-not-lose-his-mind/
Artworks can be picked up at the end of the exhibition – 09 november.
W.I.P. (work in Progress)
Meet & Greet – Expositie Wankel Evenwicht – Kunst in het Hoogkoor- Academiehuis Zwolle 15-05-25.
De expositie Wankel Evenwicht is een uitkomst van een sociaal onderzoek. In aanloop naar deze expositie ben ik samen met collega kunstenaars en cultuurmakers de schoolbankjes weer in gegaan (Cibap Next) en hebben we ons licht opgestoken over social design. Met dezelfde groep kunstenaars en studenten hebben we vervolgens data verzameld uit verschillende Zwolse wijken.
Ik heb samen met collega Marian Visscher – Benjamins Visscher en ArtEZ University of the Arts-student Abe Damen, op ludieke wijze passanten in het winkelcentrum van Stadshagen bevraagd met grote universele vragen als: ‘Wat verbindt ons?’ en ‘Wat verdeelt ons?’. De opbrengst van deze vragen is het vertrekpunt geweest voor mijn ontwerp van de W.I.P. (work in progress), zoals te zien in de expositie.
Maar het verhaal gaat verder, en het onderzoek, op een bepaalde manier, eigenlijk ook. Er staat een grote jute zak met de letters ZAAI in de ruimte en in die zak zitten zonnebloem pitten. Bezoekers worden gevraagd een handje zaden ergens op de W.I.P te leggen, keuze uit de woorden IK, WIJ of ZIJ.
Dagelijks wordt de opbrengst van deze zaden geoogst en wordt het verdeeld over de IK, WIJ, ZIJ zakjes die aan de muur hangen. Deze zakjes worden wekelijks geleegd en (de woorden) gewogen. Het gewicht per woord representeert natuurlijk iets. Iets wat ook voor veel uitleg vatbaar is maar vooral symbolische waarde heeft.
We zitten in de derde week en in de weging van afgelopen week kwam WIJ met de oogst van 1,5 kilo zonnebloemzaden als meest gewichtige woord uit de bus.
Cultuurmaker en tevens deelnemer, Jolan Van de Waeter, distribueert de zonnebloemzaden ‘as we speak’ ook weer terug de wijken in.
Aanstaande donderdag ga ik weer een tussenweging doen en je bent van harte uitgenodigd om meer gewicht in spreekwoordelijke schaal te leggen en ook met mij of collega Marian (kunstwerk: Verwonder) die er ook is in gesprek te gaan
Verder is er werk te bewonderen van: Jan Pieter Gootjes, Ludie Klamer en Everdien Post.
Waar: Academiehuis Zwolle || Kunst in het Hoogkoor. De expositie is tot 08 juni te zien.
JE SUIS…
Every cruelty against Gaza is a cruelty to all of us,
its a insult to everything I believe in, and what we have learned to believe in.
Every new day that people die by violence inflicted on them, you kill part of me, a part of us.
and everything we ever believed in.
Every new day that people suffer because of the medical aid that is deprived of them, sickens me.
Every new day people are starving because of the food you denied them, starves the concept of humanity
and everything we believed in.
Is this how you want to go down in history, is this your legacy ?
a message for Benjamin Netanyahu
Happy 2025
Let leave 2024 behind and start all over. I wish you all a Peaceful, Healthy, Sustainable and Loving 2025
Laten we 2024 achter ons laten en met een schone lei beginnen. Ik wens u allen een Vreedzaam, Gezond, Duurzaam en Liefdevol 2025!
music: Bloodpixelhero__retro-tense-loop – Waves-of-grace-perro-s-space
Ahmed Aldaalsa exhibition in Zwolle
His work and that of other artist is on display by the name; Gaza ’24
A month and a half ago, I introduced Ahmed Aldaalsa, a young artist from Gaza to you. Meanwhile, I can (proudly) report that Ahmed has an exhibition at art space Het Langhuis in Zwolle.
I curated this exhibition together with Wim Marseille (Langhuis expo committee) and, with the help and commitment of artists, performers and now many others, we managed to turn it into something beautiful and (I think) meaningful.
Read more about the exhibition here: https://www.langhuis.nl/expected-gaza-24/
Next Saturday, 03-08-2024, this exhibition opens
The opening will be framed by a live performance by Fakkelteit in Beatbox; Rilyc, Stan & Felix Flakes. DJ ‘Jehudi spins record’ will provide tasty music, there will be snacks, drinks and good company.
Through Ahmed’s raw yet vulnerable images and retorts from Zwolle artists and others, we open a new debate; sensitive, engaged, compassionate and supportive.
Ahmed’s work is also for sale
Quality prints have been made of his drawings and photographs on A2 and A3 in small editions. These special prints are on sale at the Langhuis. The proceeds go directly to the artist still living in Gaza.
+ Participating artists besides Ahmed Aldaalsa are Olivier Otten, Ibrahim Kurt, and Basma Al Afifi (Gaza/Egypt) with, in addition, a contribution from Fakkelteit, Beatbox. (image and sound recording by Lesley Da Rosa)
Exhibitions and more
Exhibition Vermeerderen (Multiply)
From 07 July to 27 September, my works; I Would Always Want To Be Here, Nothing But A Dreamer, Brave New World 02, Violence Is Blue and Sweet Dreams will be on display during the exhibition Multiplying (Vermeerderen) – at Micksart Gallery in Emmen
Exhibition Story Line
From 07 July to 11 August, my works; Virgin Screens (Green), Do You Follow Me and Are You Following Me will be on display at the exhibition Story line at Galerie de Ploegh in Amersfoort.
Sold
Happy to report that my painting Brave New World 01 is getting a new home! The new owner is the Zwolle-based company, STORM in Recruitment.
Thank you Arnold Bouman, for the purchase and have fun with, what I believe is also a bit symbolic of the, Superman, which is surely also hidden in all of us, no matter how small or how big you or your shadow may be.
