Heroes and Gods
Heroes and gods are never distant. They live among us – in portraits and myths, in objects and gestures, in memory and imagination. They are figures we raise up, but also question.
Emo Verkerk (Amsterdam, 1955) is known for his conceptual portraits that move beyond likeness. His works transform identity into idea, balancing irony and reverence, and testing the edges of myth, memory, and image.
Kiana Girigorie (Los Angeles, 1997) paints layered translations of memory and origin. Her rhythmic, intuitive canvases combine emotion and symbol, weaving magical-real elements into a language that is both personal and collective.
Gijs Assmann (Roosendaal, 1966) works across drawing, sculpture, and installation to give weight to the fragile heroism of daily life. Gestures of love, care, and longing become monumental, questioning who and what we choose to honor.
Merijn Bolink (Amsterdam, 1967) creates hybrid objects that fuse nature, science, and technology. Drawing on old techniques as well as new tools, he explores how artificial intelligence reshapes our ways of thinking and seeing. His work raises a central question: should we fear machines that rival human thought, or does nature remain the most powerful force to guide us?
Together, these four artists form an exhibition that does not present heroes and gods as static icons, but as living questions. Who do we admire, who do we doubt, and what does it mean to embody the divine – or to resist it? Between Verkerk’s portraits, Girigorie’s layered symbologies, Assmann’s sculptural intimacies, and Bolink’s hybrid metamorphoses, a field of tension emerges: reverence and irony, fragility and strength, the human and the more-than-human.
Heroes and Gods does not offer answers. Instead, it invites visitors to reconsider the figures we elevate, the myths we inherit, and the ways art continues to reimagine both.