A day with the Nassaus
The Speelhuis
In the playhouse lived hundreds of stories, of everything that happened and all the people who came there. Stories from another century that we cannot imagine. At least, you would think so. Evi Hogervorst and Bas Steens, both illustrators and artists within the collective Zut Mon Sac, brought the stories to life.
Evi visualizes night in her illustrations. Not just any night, but a night as the Nassaus might have experienced it in their century. A night, in and around the playhouse. Bas's illustrations take you through a day full of events and situations that he researched in detail and then visualized. The Malie game, a dinner at the playhouse and the kidnapping of Filips Willem van Oranje.
The situations reflected in Bas and Evi's art contain not only a story of the past, but also an opinion from the present, showing the contrast between how people lived then and now.
Evi comments: "As an illustrator you learn to tell stories and there is so much information in this assignment, so I thought it would be really fun to be able to put that into images. There are a lot of different elements to use, so I had to filter rather than make something up."
Bas has a goal in mind. "When people look at my art, I don't want to direct them, everyone should have their own interpretation of my work. I hope it triggers something that is already in the mind, if not, I hope people just enjoy the colors."
Bas and Evi's exhibition was on display from Aug. 18 to Oct. 1, 2023, during CrossArts' SPEEL!