David Bade Jordan Herregraven sculptures, paintings, etchings 11 January – 22 February 2026

David Bade (1970) has always had a strong social engagement in his art. In 2006 he founded with Tirzo Martha the Instituto Buena Bista in Curaçao where young people can develop their artistic talents. He also organized projects where the local community is invited to participate in making art. In his current project We OK he and seven young artists collaborate with young people in Breda. The results will be shown in an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Breda as of 25 april 2026. In his own work David Bade often addresses social themes like discrimination, inequality, and the might of economic power structures which he often depicts in a provocative and absurdist way. The humor in his work makes the sensitive topics accessible and opens up a positive approach to social issues. In the exhibition at the gallery David Bade presents several new spatial works in which traditional sculptures of saints are transformed. In No Non a statue of the Virgin Mary gets a new face and is given a pair of boxing gloves. He also shows new drawings and paintings that for instance depict cheerful wolves or chickens and birds revolting against the bio industry. In another work an alternative mass is celebrated in honour of the Mother, the Daughter and the Sacred Animal. David Bade wants his images to be inviting and contagious, fitting into what he calls the science of happiness.

In his sculptures, Jordan Herregraven (1990, Phoenix, Arizona, USA) brings to life mythical creatures that are composed of natural and artificial forms. They resemble artifacts or totems from a forgotten world that at the same time relate to the present, to the vulnerability of the human body and nature. A virtuoso and diverse use of materials is present in all of his works. For example he cuts a spine from wood, symbolizing the transport of energy, and an animal’s head which is crowned with a textile umbrella that offers protection to the creature. The wood he uses is often weathered or damaged, alluding to the imperfection and fragility of nature that needs to be restored and healed. In his etchings, bats, fish, lizards, and snakes merge into a bizarre pictogram, like a riddle from the subconscious that has to be deciphered. By connecting the physical and natural with the mythical and subconscious Jordan Herregraven appeals to questions about our existence and our relationship to an endangered nature, in a world that seems to change ever more rapidly.