Catalogue Above Reality

Using only a pencil, pastel chalk and charcoal, and working from a grid, Hans de Wit creates complex worlds on paper. His imposing drawings reflect chaotic compositions of ruins, swaying cables, thorny plants, birds, snails, wasps’ nests, insect-like tentacles and weapons. These bear witness to an imaginary world that is hidden from view behind the reality we see. The atmospheric use of light and the plastic representation of various objects exert an immediate magnetic effect on on-lookers. Nevertheless, due to their considerable format, strange dimensional proportions and innumerable details, the works demand patience: the longer you look, the more you discover.

The shadowy fantasy worlds of Hans de Wit are ominous rather than fairy tale-like. They combine a melancholic longing with an atmosphere of decay, in which living and artificial elements merge. Although many of his titles refer to allegorical narratives, the meaning of De Wit’s drawings is usually not obvious. As can be said of many of the works at this exhibition, De Wit manages to create a dimension of his own, in which time, space and even gravity are absent. A dark vision of a future that leaves no place for mankind.