DISQUIET

I wander in a pitch-black sleeping city
In search of clues, hidden in that alluring darkness
There is something there
Evidence of a case that remains unsolved
An unexplainable encounter with reality
I don’t know how I got here,
but I know I will come here again
Wandering in this mental space
Allowing peace to return

Disquiet involves abstracting the contemporary world into a dark, empty, abandoned, and damaged place in which humans roam but are not so much welcome. Defining it is difficult. Bas found the subject in his archive among the many night photographs that always came out the same: a desolate street scene where tension is present. This tension comes from coping with stress, the feeling of not being able to sleep, a feeling of restlessness.

'The night is a place of silence, which I long for. I need the quiet in my noisy life. The abstract forms a mystery. 'Where does this fascination with darkness and abstraction come from?' A question on my mind that I have yet to fully answer. And what is darkness? Both darkness and abstraction have to do with invisibility, emptiness, and absence. Darkness raises questions: what is hidden? What mystery is invisible? What danger looms? The title Disquiet evokes a recognizable feeling, especially in uncertain times. This unrest, which translates into tension in the image, consists of the contrast of darkness versus light, emptiness, and subjects: the streets of a city, or the rooms in of a place.'