43 ART&CULTURE J e w e r k t v e e l m e t g o u d . Wa a r o m ? “Ik ben gefascineerd door het thema ‘stilte’ en moest denken aan het spreekwoord ‘Spreken is zilver, zwijgen is goud’. Dat roept allerlei vragen op: waarom is zwijgen goud, waarom is goud beter, hoe zit het met de monetaire waarde van goud, waarom kan goud als luxeproduct ook problematisch zijn? Gouden trouwringen, gouden medailles. Zwijgen is goud, maar stilte kan ook staan voor censuur. In de kunstwereld stuit goud vaak op weerstand, het wordt gezien als kitsch. Goud werd voor mij steeds fascinerender vanwege alle oordelen, aannames, associaties en taboes. Ik heb me er in vastgebeten en heb er tot op de dag van vandaag een haat-liefdeverhouding mee. Als iets niet ‘mag’, zoveel weerstand oproept, dan wordt het alleen maar interessanter. Goud is een voertuig geworden in mijn werken door de taboes die erachter schuilen. Het is that would have otherwise never been entered into. In these challenging and uncertain times, there’s a lot of polarisation and not a lot of room for nuance. Through my art I want to give these nuances a platform; I want to invite everyone to have their own opinion and share that opinion with others.’ Yo u wo r k w i t h g o l d a l o t . Wh y ? ‘I’m fascinated by silence and am always reminded of the saying: ‘Speech is silver, silence is golden.’ It raises all kinds of questions, like: why is silence golden? Why is gold better? What about the monetary value of gold? Why is gold problematic as a luxury product? Gold wedding rings, gold medals. Silence is golden, but it can also stand for censorship. In the art world, gold is often met with resistance, as it’s considered by many to be kitsch. All these judgements, assumptions, associations and taboos only made gold more fascinating to me. I delved deep and developed a love-hate relationship with it that still exists today. When something is taboo or not allowed, it becomes infinitely more interesting. Gold has become a vehicle in my work because of the taboos that surround it. It’s equal parts enticing and divisive. But once you push past the resistance, new discoveries will raise new questions about things like value systems and authenticity.’ S o y o u d o n ’ t s h y away f r o m ta b o o s ? ‘That’s right. I get rebellious when something's not allowed. I was recently asked to make something near the dolmens, but I wasn’t allowed to use gold. So I cast a stone in bronze and positioned it in front of the dolmens. That isn' t allowed because it’s a heritage site, but that’s what makes it so interesting.’ H ow c o n c e p t u a l i s y o u r a r t ? ‘The process remains a mystery and is purely intuitive. It always goes dif ferent than how I’d planned it. A lot of the time, I can only explain the concept of a piece after it's done. I see sharing that as part of my work.’ H ow p e r s o n a l a r e t h o s e s t o r i e s ? ‘I’m starting to do more commissioned work in people's homes. That makes things really personal. Most of my work is inspired by some kind of personal challenge. What went wrong, what are you struggling with, what are you ashamed of? Questions like these help me get closer to the truth, which isn' t something everyone has the courage to do. I was recently commissioned by a couple in Amsterdam who were restoring GERT JAN VAN ROOIJ 'Anti drone tent', Museum IJsselstein
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