Going once, going twice: the porcelain treasures of Willem Bal / Hidenori Mitsue (DAI, 2009), Bas van Beek, Superflex
The exhibition Going once, going twice: the Porcelain Treasures of Willem Bal is a unique opportunity to see the Middelburg-based antique dealer's lavish porcelain collection in its entirety. In 1963, following Bal's death, the Zeeuws Museum received this extraordinary collection of Asian and European ceramics including Delftware and Meissen porcelain on loan. Over the years the Zeeuws Museum has shown a small selection as part of the permanent display of porcelain. Fifty years later, we are presenting the entire collection comprising some 1500 pieces, including a unique collection of refined Chinese Qing dynasty porcelain objects from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The exhibition also includes contemporary art by Hidenori Mitsue, Bas van Beek and Superflex. Painter Hidenori Mitsue (1969, Japan and a a 2009 graduate from the DAI) takes inspiration from the opulence of Willem Bal's porcelain collection. Like the Chinese potters of centuries past, Mitsue has explored the boundaries between tradition and innovation and the tension between elements from Western and Asian cultures. On rapid daps of paint, often in bright colours, he suggests the silhouettes of glistening vased, tableware and figurines.