Letters to Giotto

About this activity.

LETTERS TO GIOTTO

Throughout Gert van Oortmerssen’s artistic career, the influence of his studies in art history, which
he completed between 1982 and 1989, has been evident. Since the early 1990s, van Oortmerssen
(born 1963 in Groningen) has been developing long-term series that he works on at intervals.

Letters to Giotto is one such series, in which observations on perspective play a central role. To the
contemporary viewer, it may seem that the painters of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance
did not (yet) fully grasp the theory of perspective. But is this really the case? Was a mathematically
accurate spatial illusion the highest priority in their artistic work? Or was the most important task
to convey a story from a spiritual perspective? And how do these two aspects relate to each other?
Van Oortmerssen sees parallels with today’s society, where storytelling based on measured truth
often struggles with storytelling based on felt truth. A sense of unease on the one hand, and
curiosity on the other, have led him to engage in a “dialogue” with painters of the late Middle Ages
and early Renaissance – a fictional correspondence.Letters to Giotto is a visual representation of Van Oortmerssen’s admiration and wonder at the use
of perspective by artists of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It also reflects his
fascination with the way they told their stories.

Gert van Oortmerssen
www.gertvanoortmerssen.nl (Dutch and English)
info@gertvanoortmerssen.nl

Studio of Wilma Vissers.

info@wilmavissers.com
0031628718558

Location.

De Portiersloge
Haddingestraat 26
www.wilmavissers.com