Alfred Haberpointner

The work of the Dutch artist Nicolas Dings is determined by his fascination for the borderlines of art, handicraft and folk art, with their differing aesthetics and functions. Dings works with the most varied materials, which he also integrates as a carrier of meaning into his works. His motifs are frequently derived from the pictorial language of the Renaissance, and his representational work offers a wide range of associative possibilities. For “Blickachsen 8” he designed a “Delft cabinet”, placed against the background of the Bad Homburg castle. The objects displayed in the cabinet are in the style of the renowned blue and white porcelain manufactured in Delft in Holland from around 1600, itself an imitation of the porcelain brought from China by merchant ships. Against the historical framework of a tolerant United Netherlands of the 16th and 17th centuries, with her developed global trade, Dings describes his ceramics, with their contemporary political motifs and portraits, as “a multi-cultural mixture of order and chaos”, by means of which he raises questions about identity and cultural diversity in modern society.