Gummbah : 25 Years of Painting

Gummbah

18.12.21 - 16.01.22

We live in a world plagued by war, pandemics, floods, volcanic eruptions, hardships, hunger, greed, and above all, the senseless pursuit of success.

One man bravely stands against this madness from his workers' house in Tilburg: Gummbah.

For decades, he has refused - as an artist, as a man, as a human - to participate in the rat race, the climb to the top, the elusive dot on the horizon, in perspectives, life goals, bucket lists, because he knows : every painting is a defeat.

To be more precise : life is a defeat, or even more precisely : an accumulation of defeats. No one can change that, not even the devil and his old mother.

Because that is true mindfulness: giving up.

Every day, at half-past five in the morning, Gummbah departs for his leafy located studio. There, he diligently works on an ever-expanding oeuvre, an all-encompassing universe, and despite everything, he feels like an omnipotent being. For twenty-five arduous years, he has been working on paintings on canvas, solely to contribute to the well-being of humanity.

That they were rarely shown (let alone sold) is only a bonus. Because that is the sad flip side of success : being seen too much. An excess of too much, that is the pain of this existence.

OvG, November 2021