David Bade (1970) saw his career get off to a flying start with a.o. exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and SMAK in Ghent. His art is characterized by a strong social commitment that has become increasingly significant over the years. In 2006, together with Tirzo Martha, he founded the Instituto Buena Bista in Curaçao, a place where young people aged 15 to 24 can develop their artistic talents. Through the IBB, he organizes projects such as All You Can Art and For Life, which center on the engagement with the local community. In his own work, he addresses actual social themes—such as discrimination, social inequality, and economic power structures which he portrays in an infectious and provocative, absurdist manner. The humor in his work makes these weighty subjects accessible, offering a way to approach social issues positively.

In his three-dimensional work, Bade often employs existing everyday objects, joining and balancing them using plastic, metal, and wood. Fried Air (Gebakken Lucht), for instance, consists of a stack of frying pans, hats, textiles, and gloves balancing on a wooden pedestal. More recently, he has combined religious statues with plastic objects and forms. A layer of colored epoxy that binds the components together and gives them dynamism. His paintings and drawings also bring together various elements that collectively tell a social story. Wolves, chickens, and birds rise up against the bio industry, or an alternative mass is performed in honor of the Mother, the Daughter, and the Holy Animal. Bade intends these to be infectious images that align with what he calls his science of happiness.

see: www.davidbade.nl