The Witch and A Shipwreck Full of Paintings

Asked to react to one of the Van Abbe Museum's catalogued paintings, which de Appel curatorial students considered as 'Bourgois Leftovers, as they did not hold much art historical importance; I chose a still life painting by Bart Peizel. I acquired the books depicted in Bart Peizel's Still Life with Books (1933) and used them as a starting point to cross-examine the painter's biography. I re-created and projected a photograph of the painting with new additions including the original swimming certificate of Peizel’s wife, Thérèse Ansingh (aka sorella), one of her paintings, and Bart's attractive self-portrait, trying to portrait their failed relationship. Hans Ansingh, Peizel's wife's nephew, agreed to meet with me and provides a voiceover, describing Peizel's distain for modern art. Other stories emerge of the boxes of candy sorella sent to herself to make Bart jealous, a sunken boat full of paintings, and his destroyed paintings in imitation of his nemesis Mondriaan.

This project was commissioned by de Appel arts centre's curatorial program in collaboration with the Van Abbe Museum