By referencing contextual images of culture, history, politics, and society, Willem de Rooij inquires into the societal reality that exists beyond aesthetic meaning encompassing composition and form. Through various media such as film, installation, and photography, he poses questions about the connection between seeing and recognizing and provokes the audience’s awareness of that relationship.
Orange, co-produced with Jereon de Rijke between 1994 and 2006, continuously shows 80 images of the color orange, during which time the viewer discovers subtle color changes in each image. Orange, the official color of the Netherlands deriving from the name of the royal House of Orange-Nassau, provides a context for this work, implying the country’s nationalism and the significance therein through the orange color.
