David Roosenberg

It's Magic

David Roosenberg will exhibit from November 14, 2021 to January 8, 2022 in the Museum of All Times and in ALARM. Inspired by It's Magic, Ans Verdijk responds with his own work in ALARM.

Many traditions originally have deep religious meanings. The origins often go back far in history, to pre-Christian pagan cultures. They are about birth, sacrifice and rebirth.

For example, the English word for Easter, 'easter', can be traced back to the name of the goddess Ishtar from ancient Mesopotamia. The German 'ostern' refers to Ostara, the Germanic goddess of spring. By digging deeper into its origins, Easter takes on a different connotation. The eggs and the Easter bunny were symbols of fertility, which only later acquired a Christian meaning under the influence of the church.

In the ceramic work of David Roosenberg, western traditional holidays are examined. What do they mean? Where do they come from? Who are the characters worshiped as gods under decorated trees and near chimneys?

During the contemporary versions of our celebrations, concepts such as materialism and hedonism become painfully visible. The retail industry works overtime during Sinterklaas and Christmas. Roosenberg maps this phenomenon and searches for a visual language to express the contradictory feelings that “our” traditions evoke in him. David Roosenberg combines both image and sound in the exhibition It's Magic.

In response to Roosenberg's work, Ans Verdijk presents a new series of works of art. Traditionally created objects were photographed, edited with digital techniques and then printed on ceramic tablets. In these often humorous and satirical images, the tangible and the ephemeral collide, creating cloud fields. According to Verdijk, it is “as if God visits a large red sitting woman. Everything is red hot, everything is on fire.”