Can art be the voice of change? Read my appeal.
THISCREPANCY
THISCREPANCY – pen and ink on paper – 70 x 70 cm- 2026
Soldier, seen from behind, heavily armed, has orders from higher up. He obeys and asks no questions, because that's what soldiers do.
Souldier seen from behind, heavily armed, has orders from higher up. He has moral objections and poses questions, because that is what soldiers should do.
Soldier will not judge right or wrong, he carries out orders. Just a tool, an extension of a greater power.
Souldier might have an opinion about what is right and wrong and is prudent in carrying out an order. Much more than a tool or an extension of a higher power.
Soldier has no political colour, just camouflage colours; he serves whoever pays his wages.
Souldier has no political colour, just camouflage colours; his humanity is not for sale.
Soldier obeys and asks no questions, because that is what soldiers do
Souldier have moral objections and pose questions, because that is what soldiers should do.With Gaza and Westbank in mind, a heads up against the oppression of Netanyahu and pro peace, for U.S.A. Citizens heads up against ICE (and Trump) pro peace, Ukraine heads up against Putin and pro peace. The list could go on for ever- heads up for all who wants a peaceful living without oppressors.
Exhibition ‘Common Ground’, Courtrai, Belgium
Coming soon: International Group Exhibition ‘COMMON GROUND’ at Larry Gallery
This exhibition is curated by Nicolaes Devriendt, Larry Gallery, and showcases 27 international artist including myself.
27 artist will be presented on two locations in Courtrai, Belgium, over a six week period. It opens at January 29th to March 15th at these two locations: Koning Leopold I straat 26 & Groeningestraat 36.
I wil exhibit two of my latest works there; Sea Of Tranquility and Space Invaders.
“Common Ground reflects the gallery’s ongoing commitment to emerging talent. It reinforces an understanding of contemporary art that values depth, risk, and independence over instant legibility.”
This quote is attributed to: Kisito Assangni (Togolese-French curator, art consultant) who wrote an item about this upcoming exhibition in Artdependence Magazine.
You can read whole article here: https://artdependence.com/articles/common-ground-belgiums-most-anticipated-exhibition-of-emerging-artists-in-2026/
Participating Artists :
- Wendy Grace, Australia
- Daphne Verheijke, The Netherlands
- Dr. Gindi, Switzerland`
- Maria Husarska, Poland
- Sylvia Batycka, Poland/Germany
- Dorothea Dejonckheere, The Netherlands
- Mieke Jonker, The Netherlands
- Dominique Selen, Belgium
- Samir Farah, United Kingdom
- Kirsty Wain, United Kingdom
- Rafael Smet, Czech
- Thomas Pucci, Italy
- Zofia Iwaszkiewicz, Belgium
- Eva Bazhenova, United Kingdom
- Marit Otto, The Netherlands
- Akshita Lad, India/Dubai
- Oscar Rey, Spain
- Sara Bervoets, Belgium
- Silvio Zangarini, Italy
- Katherine Miller, Germany
- Bassam Andari, United Kingdom
- Sven-Ulrik Beck Burchard, Denmark
- Daniel Cuadrado, Spain
- Peggy Wauters, Belgium
- Daria Startseva, Switzerland
- Riemer Den Ouden, Netherlands
- Yosvany Malagon Hernandez, Cuba/Belgium
LARRY GALLERY
Exhibition Dates : January 29 – March 15
Locations: Groeningestraat 26, Kortrijk
Koning Leopold I Straat 26, Kortrijk
META REFUGEE
Pen and ink on Paper
70 x 70
2025
There is a prison that’s called freedom by its owner.
There is a story that’s called truth by a liar.
There is outrage that’s called civil by a demagogue.
There is a castle in the air that’s denying gravity
There are dead end streets that never lead to Rome
Where beauty is a face that looks like Silicon Valley
Where clickbait is a business model sold as creativity
There is a refugee thats named data in the Matrix
and she wants to go home.
(Thank you Prince for inspiring me with the lyrics from the song Welcome To America)
More drawings: https://maritotto.nl/pen-and-ink-drawing/
Heavenly Peace revisited
I hereby present to you ‘Heavenly Peace revisited (the imbalance of power)’
This pen drawing is a creative collaboration between myself and Ahmed Aldaalsa, an artist from Gaza. It expresses a feeling of powerlessness. Pen and ink on paper, 65 x 65 cm.
The image is based on an iconic image from 1989 in which the Chinese army violently suppressed a large-scale student protest. The student in the image, armed only with two plastic bags in both hands, stood motionless in protest in front of a line of giant tanks rolling into Tiananmen Square. He did not flinch when the front tank drove threateningly towards him. Nothing has been heard of the anonymous student in question since then.
Next to the student who seems frozen in time stands a young Palestinian man armed with a flag. Different time and place, same image, the powerless provoking the powerful. The direct confrontation with the overwhelming colossus is a symbolic act that he could never win.
Equity and human rights, can that be something of different consequence for one person than for another?
The powerless against the powerful, a David against a Goliath, but then the David of the past would be the Goliath of today.
More work by Ahmed is also to be seen in this exhibition: https://maritotto.nl/exhibition-how-can-anyone-lose-everything-he-owns-and-not-lose-his-mind/
Interview in ArtDependence Magazine
Published in september 2025 – by Dirk vanDuffel (klik hier voor Nederlandse versie)
Power, History, and Change: The Art of Marit Otto
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Dutch artist Marit Otto experiences art on many levels and in many different ways. She looks for aesthetics and eloquence but also for a particular angle.
Marit Otto creates contemporary engaged art. She says: “It has a certain urgency. It is reflecting us, people and the zeitgeist. Images speak louder than words and basically appeal very directly to our feelings. My images are something of a mix between activism and philosophy, they want to engage in dialogue.”
ArtDependence (AD): How does your work reflect your view of the world right now?
Marit Otto (MO): My work is a reflection of the Zeitgeist. It’s what I distract from the daily news, developments, movements and fashions. Questions it provokes, sadness it arouses, anger that it sparkles need to find their ways into something visual and meaningful. Everything eventually solidifies into an image that hopefully radiates something universal, embodies beauty and is also identifiable as critical or/and philosophical. The image may be abrasive, provocative and controversial, but it must also be attractive. It must appeal to the viewer.
This appeal is essential so that, after their initial encounter with the image, viewers feel compelled to explore it further.
AD: What role do you think art plays in connecting people today?
MO: To be honest, I have mixed feelings. On one hand we see an increase of art lovers all over the world. It has become less elitair and accessible for the masses. That’s a good development. On the other hand we see that commerce is getting a vast grip on every aspect of art in every art discipline. It has more and more become so intertwined with capitalistic motives. While I truly believe, artists should be independent in their minds and souls. Their talents should not be used for mere financial gain and profits but to offer the world an alternative route or narrative. I believe that art is essential for connection and nuanced communication. But, that being said, also for a bit of fresh air in the minds and hearts.
AD: What message or feeling do you hope viewers take away from your art?
MO: I hope to shake them up a little and make them contemplate about the topics I present to them. This is my message always; there are alternative routes to the one we are all walking now. Change is up to us. But for seekers of beauty I hope to meet their expectations too. Celebrating beauty in art is not vain.
AD: Can you tell us the story behind the artwork artwork, Man’s World, painted this year.
MO: We see a few men toying and tossing around with a blue ball, resembling the earth. One of them pushing the biggest ball has a likeness with Sisyphus, a figure from Greek Mythology. Sisyphus was a cunning man but made the mistake to challenge the Gods. Time and again he managed to escape the wrath of the gods, but in doing so he only made his ultimate punishment worse. His penalty was that he had to push a boulder up a mountain in Tartarus until the end of time.
There are a few hooks in this respect with this day and age where men challenge Gods and her creations in many disrespectful ways. What and who this challenged God is and what it represents is something that differs for each individual. Yet we are all witnesses to the dismantling of her creation. You could say whomever God is: supernatural, a miracle or nature, she’s used and exploited by fickle men with egoist mindsets.
The rock that is eternally pushed up the mountain represents history, which, though
possibly in a variety of guises, repeats itself endlessly. I would add: without genuinely learning from it. The other men in the picture are no celebs in this regard, but merely a group that enthusiastically and devotedly follows a supreme leader, which is the one manifesting itself by masculine scream and roar.
Read whole article at: https: //artdependence.com/articles/power-history-and-change-the-art-of-marit-otto/
Main Image: Marit Otto, Man’s World, Acrylic on canvas
MAN’S WORLD
MAN’S WORLD 2025
Acrylic on canvas
180 x 100 cm
Part of the Brave New World series
James Brown cried; ‘It’s Mans World’,
‘Do you know that man makes money
To buy from other man
………………………………………….
This is a man’s world
But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing
Not one little thing without a woman or a girl
…………………………………………
He’s lost in the wilderness
He’s lost in bitterness
He’s lost, lawd have mercy now, in loneliness‘
……………………………………………
I’ve condensed it a little on the key points.
And then I imagined Joe Jackson replied with his Real Men;
…………………………………………….
‘What’s a man now? What’s a man mean?
Is he rough or is he rugged? Is he cultural and clean?
Now it’s all changed, it’s got to change more
‘Cause we think it’s getting better but nobody’s really sure
……………………………………………………………………
And so it goes, go ‘round again
But now and then we wonder who the real men are
……………………………………………………………………
Time to get scared, time to change plan
Don’t know how to treat a lady, don’t know how to be a man
Time to admit what you call defeat
‘Cause there’s women running past you now and you just drag your feet
………………………………………………………………….
Man makes a gun, man goes to war
Man can kill and man can drink and man can take a whore
Kill all the blacks, kill all the reds
And if there’s war between the sexes then there’ll be no people left
…………………………………………………………………………
And so it goes, go ‘round again
But now and then we wonder who the real men are.‘
………………………………………………………………………..
And again me condensing it on key points…… but still, a mans point of view on men and I agree on it.
Het Zwols Stadsatelier
Met gepaste trots presenteer ik Stichting Het Zwols Stadsatelier. Vrijdag 20 juni J.L. opgericht en statutair vastgelegd en bij de notaris beëdigd (heet dat zo?) Samen met Gina Draaisma en Jos Mulder vorm ik nu het 3 koppige bestuur van een concept wat hopelijk binnen nu en 6 maanden vaste vorm gaat krijgen.
Omdat we nog volop in een onderzoeksfase zitten en nog allerlei punten op I’s moeten zetten, zeg ik er inhoudelijk nog niet te veel over.
Wel kan ik zeggen dat we hele vruchtbare gesprekken hebben gehad met beleidsmakers en leegstandbeheerders. Het is nog best een ingewikkelde maar mooie culturele, sociaal maatschappelijke puzzel die we moeten leggen.
Meer hierover volgt maar dit eerste concrete wapenfeit wilde ik vast met jullie delen.
Ik bedank de regeling ‘Oog voor Impuls’ die deze onderzoeksfase/verkenning mede mogelijk heeft gemaakt.
Wordt vervolgd.
Denk je toch hierin iets te kunnen of willen betekenen, mail of bel mij.
(English version)
With pride I present The Zwols Stadsatelier Foundation. Friday, June 20, J.L. established and statutory and sworn in at the notary (is that how it’s called?) Together with Gina Draaisma and Jos Mulder, I now form the 3-person board of a concept that will hopefully take shape within the next 6 months.
Because we are still in a research phase and still have to fill in some blancs, I won’t say too much about the content.
What I can say is that we have had very fruitful discussions with policy makers and vacancy managers. It is still quite a complicated but beautiful cultural, social puzzle that we have to put together.
More on this will follow but I wanted to share this first concrete achievement with you.
I would like to thank the ‘Oog voor Impuls’ (Eye for Impulse) organization that made this research phase/exploration possible.
To be continued.
Do you think you can or want to mean something in this, please mail or call me.
Life Is Too Short
Hereby I present my latest work, Life Is Too Short, To you
Life is too short to be negative.
Life is too fickle to be naive
Life is too dynamic to be relaxed
Life is too unfair to be positive
Life ends that makes it relative.
This image is a digital collage of pictures I made in Rome (2022) Man holding his head and massaging his temples was posted on a bridge crossing the Tiber, the Tiber is now flooding behind the man, the graffiti found on a wall somewhere in Rome. La Grande Bellezza.
Expositie Wankel Evenwicht
Wankel Evenwicht is een groepsexpositie in het Hoogkoor van het Academiehuis, Zwolle. De expositie is van 25.04.25 tot 08.06.25. Deelnemers: Everdien Post – Marian Dorothe Visscher – Jan Pieter Gootjes – Ludie Gootjes Klamer en Jolan van de Waeter en ikzelf, Marit Otto
Opening 25 april om 11u – Academiehuis Zwolle. Welkom!
Speciaal voor deze expositie heb ik de kunstinstallatie W.I.P. (Work In Progress) gemaakt. Een interactieve installatie van 4 meter breed en 2 meter hoog. Waarover ik later meer zal vertellen.
De expositie Wankel Evenwicht is een bijzondere verkenning van het maatschappelijke thema: “Hoe kunnen we samen leven” in een tijd van verandering. Deze tentoonstelling is het resultaat van een unieke samenwerking tussen zes Zwolse kunstenaars, ontwerpers en de gemeenschap, waarin kunst en erfgoed samenkomen om de complexe vraagstukken van onze samenleving aandacht te geven en in beweging te krijgen.
Deze tentoonstelling is geen eindpunt, maar een startpunt voor gesprekken, bewustwording en actie. Laten we samen verder verkennen en ontdekken wat het betekent om echt samen te leven.
