Common Background, 2018

Gijs Frieling (1966, the Netherlands) is renowned for his vibrantly decorative immersive murals. Commissioned especially for the exhibition ‘Common Ground’, Frieling’s newest work entitled ‘Common Background’ is a vision of sublime and pristine beauty. Looking out from the shelter of a cool verdant grove, with only God’s creatures for company, the viewer’s gaze roams across a broad expanse of water before alighting upon distant snowcapped mountains. Pink-fringed clouds float gently above each of the mountain’s peaks, like wooly caps waiting to settle upon their craggy heads. Before we learn to read and write, arming ourselves with words as a means of navigating reality, “we do not perceive nature as a force distinct from ourselves,” says Frieling. This primal relationship between nature and mankind is our common background. It must be rekindled and nurtured. Frieling’s Arcadian vision appeals to the all too human desire of becoming re-rooted in, and being in harmony with, innocent nature. It forms a welcome respite from the realities of a world increasingly defined by digitalization, urbanization, globalization and concurrent feelings of detachment.