In 2017, Vincent Dams (Eindhoven, 1983) created a series of drawings that together make up a kind of storyboard. Only an unusual one. The 120 drawings depict the formative events of the childhood years of fictional filmmaker Enzo Diga. Gradually, the course of his life branches out in two different directions. In one, Diga dies, in the other he survives. This series provides the basis for the exhibition at the Kröller-Müller Museum. Through sculptures and paintings, you become better acquainted with the figure of Enzo Diga and his work. And yet everything remains surrounded by an air of mystery.
From believable to absurd
Diga's fictional oeuvre is explored in earnest by Dams. For example, there are film and exhibition posters, storyboards, props and a model of a film set. This makes the story almost believable. But from time to time, absurdity creeps in. For instance, Diga is born with a moustache and at the end of his career, the filmmaker only shoots final scenes, because previously he only very occasionally managed to end a film properly.
Illusion
This exhibition features a selection of works that tell Diga's story. The painting Mr. Diga & The Matte Painters (2015) is a key work in the story. In it, the interplay between reality and illusion is beautifully depicted. It shows one of Diga's ‘film sets’. The illusion of an actual constructed environment is created by the painted glass, an old film trick, while the surrounding sky is itself painted over. But the depiction is painted on canvas by Dams. It creates a kind of droste-effect (of an image within an image). And thus it underscores the power of art: the impossible is possible, as long as it can be depicted.
About Vincent Dams
Dams previously won the Buning Brongers Award for painting and the Charlotte van Pallandt Prize for sculpture. That says a lot about his practice. He constructs, he builds, whether it is conceptually a story, or an imagined oeuvre, a sculpture or a painting. With that constructed world, Dams shows that life can take unexpected twists and turns, and therein, hopefully, art can also continue to surprise.