Meet The Artist Event: Off the Wall By Sigmund de Jong

Dutch artist Sigmund de Jong was commissioned to create the first of his renowned Wall Concept pieces in the US in the upper floor of an Upper West Side apartment. De Jong’s installations are conceptual mural paintings that are spatially and architecturally integrated into domestic spaces as an innovative form of collaborative contemporary art. For this project he will incorporate select works from the owner’s art collection into his installation. 

About Off The Wall

A few years ago the art advisor suggested that he cast his critical eye over our art collection. There was already talk of a mini-collection, but every idea was lacking something. We had to accept that. Then a radical approach was proposed : the entire house, everything off the walls. An Excel document was drawn up and every art work was inventoried by name, date and estimated value. Handy for the overview. Help ! Our first lithograph by Corneille – who at that time still had not produced a tie for Society Shop – was acquired from the art lending library while still at university, by scraping the required amount together. And the list became longer and longer. The art adviser was, according to himself, strict but fair. Happily there was a reasonable A-list. And a B-list. The next phase consisted of grouping works from the A- and B-list by theme. Nature, architecture, people, animals, abstract. On the long kitchen wall, combinations of these themes were tried out as a means of grouping them. Nature and abstract were combined in the living room. The animals hung in the hallway, architecture went in the direction of the hall and the w.c. and as for the people, there was no place so they must wait. It looked good. There was peace. There was again harmony.

Meet the artist event

There will be an event to showcase ‘Off The Wall’. It’s necessary to RSVP to this event, which you can do by sending an email to this address. Due to limited space it’s very important to sign up if you intend to join the event, and to notify the organization if plans fall through. 

About Sigmund de Jong

The self-referencing image speaks a language which can be both ideological and spiritual. With roots burrowed deeply in Northern European art, self-referencing images tend to amplify our awareness of light, space and time. This plays a vital part in the way we perceive our own surroundings. Sometimes it elicits critical thinking, but according to Rotterdam based artist Sigmund de Jong, it’s all about materializing faith in beautiful and virtuous ways.

De Jong strives for a concentrated, crystal clear images in his work. Drawing from tangible concepts, he creates pieces that are both evocative and topical. His creative process is distinguished by the use of simple work structures. Viable new equations will constantly be analyzed and investigated. This intermediate has generated projects like his Wall Concepts, works which perpetually change and evolve when exposed to different architectonic circumstances. Speaking from his background as a painter, certain conditions can be radically altered, to the point where the physical space itself becomes a piece of artwork. Suddenly you have to equate measurements, built structures and, naturally, light into the decision making. Ultimately, these environmental factors play into where and to what measure an idea is fleshed out. Once the paint is applied directly to the wall, the resulting work is subjected to the attributes of the room, augmenting it and interacting with it in the process.