Ronald de Bloeme Dutch, b. 1971

Since 2004, Ronald de Bloeme has been investigating how reliable our perception of reality truly is. This Dutch artist, working from Berlin, dissects the visual bombardments we encounter daily.

In his early work, De Bloeme focused on the everyday communication systems surrounding us: packaging materials, manuals, logos, and subway maps. According to him, these seemingly mundane objects constitute powerful communication systems that constantly transmit messages to us. By 'hijacking' these elements and transforming them into monumental paintings in vivid colors, he exposes how far our visual reality has drifted from natural reality.

Later, his focus shifted to Google's influence on our perception of the world. He created a series of monumental paintings that capture the fleeting moments when Google's algorithm determines which colors and sequence of images are shown to each individual user during searches. These 'snapshots' are different for every user at all times-a powerful metaphor for how our digital reality is filtered and manipulated.

In his most recent work, De Bloeme applies the same approach to comics, anonymizing them to demonstrate how universal our visual language truly is. By stripping familiar visual codes of their original context, he challenges us to reflect on how easily we 'read' and interpret images.

De Bloeme's work confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: in our media-saturated world, our perception of reality is largely constructed by systems designed to influence us.