In Vincent’s Asylum, Loek Grootjans (1955, the Netherlands) shows an asylum in which he has collected traces of the renowned painter Vincent Van Gogh. It will be on show in the Floraliënhal (Flower Show Hall), part of the complex that includes the S.M.A.K., ‘t Kuipke and the ICC.
After a residency at the Van Gogh House in Zundert in 2012, Grootjans came up with the idea of building an asylum for Vincent Van Gogh, a place where all the important elements of his life could be brought together: drinking water from Zundert, the ground on which he was born, mummified and preserved vegetables from the kitchen garden, pigment found in St. Rémy de Provence, and so on.
Vincent’s Asylum emerged from the long-term project Storage for Distorted Matter, in which Grootjans brought together all the things he had left behind him, both physically and mentally. Everything connected to the artist and his world was recorded and archived. His aim is to store up a life, but at the same time he confronts the viewer with the impossibility of doing so.
Vincent’s Asylum is a mobile asylum that visits places that were or might have been important to the painter. It has so far been set up at the Van Gogh House in Zundert and Museum de Pont in Tilburg. After its time at the S.M.AK., it will be taken to other venues in Europe.
Loek Grootjans had another solo exhibition at the S.M.A.K. in 2010, called Leaving Traces. Two of his works are in the permanent collection.
