Amos van Gelder

I am a storyteller of sorts, I use images, paintings, and written language. I am fascinated by the visual appearance of language; in my works, letters and words are the main material. I use their intrinsic quality, explore their form, and re-arrange them, in order to create a space that portrays human consciousness. 

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The Hebrew language is my pivoting tool. Like other languages, it has its inherent aesthetics and rich associative world. And for me, aside from it being my mother language, I see an opportunity to address conceptual art (which is mostly English-dominated) from a new prism and explore the unique qualities of the Hebrew language. 

 

My research of the language began in 1992. In 2015, I did a site-specific installation at the location of the historic synagogue of Groningen, curated by Ronit Eden, This project opened the door to a personal journey of discovering my Dutch-Jewish heritage. 

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More recent projects in 2023 include "Abandoned Schoolyard", by curator Ronit Eden, and music composition by Amit Gur, at Etty Hillesum Centrum. 

The Project "Memory Boxes"  at the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam is to be seen from 6 March until August 2025. The project was realized with the collaboration of curator Birgitta van Bliterswijk and composer Amit Gur.

 by the use of old archival material a landscape of events that took place during the period of the Second World War reappears in the form of larger-than-life paintings accompanied by Hebrew texts added in a halo form to the subjects in the paintings.

sound and sound narration accompany the work.

in these series, I create a network of personal stories that are woven throughout time.  

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