< Chaim van Luit
Into nature
Chaim van Luit
Jul 31, 2021 - Oct 24, 2021
Bargerveen (The Netherlands)
Van Luit has created a neon work for Into Nature. For this, he has taken as his starting point the longest palindrome ever devised: Ingirum imus nocte et consumimur igni ('We wander about in the night and are consumed by fire'). With this enigmatic text, he evokes an atmosphere of the spirits and bog bodies which combine with the peat that served as fuel. Due to the particular placement of the work, the water of the Bargerveen acts as a mirror, while nature itself completes the picture.

Seeker, finder, wanderer, explorer" is how Chaim van Luit (The Netherlands, 1985) describes himself on his Instagram account. Like an archaeologist, he collects ideas, images and materials - sometimes literally, such as when, for example, he explores the caves of Limburg with his metal detector - but just as often in his imagination. This eventually leads to the creation of clear, yet layered images.

Van Luit combines the layering of his work with a particular attention to the material and medium he is working with. An example of this is Shortcut (2019), which consists of a swastika constructed from neon lights, a disturbing and controversial image. Fortunately, there is a physical law which states that the light in a system of tubes will always choose the shortest path of travel. As a result, from the whole work, only two illuminated tubes can be seen at one time...