Job Koelewijn

Dedication means authority: it sounds like a catchy aphorism. The quote comes from the founder of Taoism, the Chinese philosopher Lao-tze, whose eighty-one texts containing wisdom on mystical and ethical matters were compiled in the Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way and of Virtue). With fervent dedication the quote has been penned on the wall with the aid of a stencil that was shifted a bit each time. The slightly hallucinatory pattern created by this repetition yields a powerful image.
The artist first applied this work to the wall at De Pont for the anniversary exhibition ReView (2017). Whereas it then involved one wall, two years later Koelewijn has filled an entire space with it. The visitor is surrounded by the text from all sides. Each wall shows a variation of the work: in horizontal rows, in circular shapes and with a vertical orientation.