Tribute to Rotterdam in the Boijmans van Beuningen Depot

Children’s bible
Smit both plays and wrestles with themes such as angst, freedom, power, religion, balance, life, heritage and mortality, not just in his works of art but also in his life as an artist. He was afflicted with anxiety disorders from an early age, but has seemingly been able to manage these increasingly better as time has passed and also features them in his work, which acts as a kind of relief valve for him. For example, he associates the lions and tigers which inhabit his paintings and light sculptures with power and freedom. To him, these animals symbolise the conquering of fear. He sees them as free spirits – unrestrained animals – while at the same time applying the nuance: ‘even though they may also live in captivity’. Religion has been another of his themes ever since he visited churches in Limburg with his parents as a child. Such was his wonder that his parents gave him a children’s bible which he still cherishes, and which sits on a shelf in his workshop, and the theme of religion remains an inescapable feature of his work. For example, in The Mystical Birth of Rotterdam the Virgin Mary is represented pouring out the Rotte river, and he has given the title Trinity, a clear reference to Christianity, to one of his own favourite works of art. Trinity is an abstract work, a light sculpture consisting of three circles which is also stored in the Depot.

A wall painting in the museum
In addition to Trinity, his favourites among his own work include Metamorphosis and Totem (Good Omen). Metamorphosis could be admired as a wall painting in Boijmans right up to the start of the renovation work. It depicts three figures representing the different stages of the museum as it goes through a transition. Smit explains: ‘I look upon it as self-conceived mythology. The figures featured in Metamorphosis are personifications of the museum. The first struggles under the burden of the huge mass of artworks it has collected around itself in the course of time. In the second, the figure has come to a complete standstill, wrapped in the cocoon, while the third shows the figure emerging as a victor’. Totem is constructed from traditionally lucky items such as a horseshoe, a four-leaved clover, a Japanese lucky cat and a charm against the evil eye. It is a good-luck charm for turbulent times such as these and was, until recently, on display at Big Art on the Hembrug grounds and in De Spelonk in The Hague.

A natural-born artist
Inspired by chewing gum stickers, among other things, Smit was already drawing cartoon and other characters like Spiderman, Batman, Ninja Turtles and Robin Hood at an early age. Because he produced the drawings from memory, however, new characters also came into being. Smit explains: ‘I wanted to make cartoons or become a cartoon character artist when I grew up. That was the kind of job I could already picture in my mind’s eye. After all, drawing and painting were the only things I was good at, and that has never changed. For me, becoming an artist has been a natural growth process. I sold my first work of art around the age of 18 for 300 euros when I was admitted as a trainee to an exhibition in The Hague; that was my first success. In those days, my aim was to be able to at least pay the rent and buy the groceries from my work, so that I wouldn’t have to do a job on the side. To me, such jobs were an unnecessary distraction from what I really wanted to be doing. I first got to know Boijmans as an artist in my early twenties. I was asked to participate in Kunst4Kids, an event organised by the museum once every two years to introduce children under 16 to art. We, the participating artists, were each commissioned to produce a work of art in a series of between 30 and 100 pieces. I made a screen print called Still Life of My Youth, which featured images that had inspired me as a child, such as Michelangelo’s David and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, as well as cartoon characters. The kids were each allowed to choose one of these works of art for themselves to take home, and quite soon all my screen prints had been taken away by the kids’.

Favourite Rotterdam artists
Smit, who was born in the city quarter of South and raised in Hoogvliet, has been living in Rotterdam again since he was 19, and has a house in West, as well as a workshop near Leuvehaven. He loves the city and its artists: ‘My favourite Rotterdam artists? Joep van Lieshout, with my favourite work of his being Monument, a bronze sculpture representing a man riding on a horse. This sculpture is temporarily on display at the entrance of Joep’s workshop in the MH4 area. To me, this sculpture exudes menace, harmony and mobility. This is something you can also see in my work; it all seems to be peace and calm on the surface, but there is more going on’. For example, the horse in Van Lieshout’s sculpture seems to be trampling someone. Hidde van Schie and Gyz La Rivière are two other Rotterdam artists that Smit mentions: ‘The work of Gyz in particular just breathes Rotterdam’. Smit has also bought work from both these artists for his home. He considers it an honour that others refer to him as a Rotterdam Make It Happen icon because of his contribution to the exciting cultural climate of Rotterdam: ‘The thing is though, that I don’t feel like a Rotterdam artist pur sang so much as a visual artist in Rotterdam. I am currently working on a work of art for the public space in Rotterdam, and on another work in Almere’. Something to look forward to then, but first let’s pay a visit to the Depot, which will be opening its doors to the public on the 6^th of November.