Beorn Nijenhuis over Gerrit Breteler
Before my first Olypmic Games a friend of mine and sports reporter for the Volkskrant magazine sat down with me for a good 2 hours and we talked about my life.
The title of the article was “experiment in cultureel afzondering.” This is the story: A boy, born in Canada and moved to Holland when he was 13. After being Dutch for 8 years, he didn’t know where he belonged anymore, or if any one country he settled in could ever really belong to him. The boy became a country of one.
My life is an experiment in cultural isolation. I am my own country, and that country is a mix of two countries. From both the Dutch world and the Canadian world I am an outsider looking in on a world I understand but am not completely a part of. Some would look on me with pity. Some would say, “Isn’t it to bad.” Or “Isn’t it sad.” When I hear things like that I smile. I smile because what they see as a weakness, I see as my greatest strength. What is it to be Dutch? I mean really? What is it to be Canadian? The French and American revolutionist’s invented something called “nationalism”, before that we loved god and his representative on earth, and that was it. I am a country of one, but I still believe in many great things and I still love many great ideas; ideas not limited by the borders of states, space or time. I am a country of one, but a proud country indeed.
So I ask you now, my dear reader, now that you know from whence I come,
Who would I, country of one, want to praise?
It is a man whose intellectual and artistic mind is sharp enough to pierce the veils of prejudice and bigotry that still separate cultures and countries. It is a man whose vision and time on earth are not limited by his culture or his country, but on the contrary, a man whose vision and time are spent working to change this world, this culture and this country. A man with the courage to strike a course no one else dares to sail, and when the seas get rough and when the storms of criticism and conformism are almost capsizing his dream, he will still hold his course, and stay the line. Those are the men in this world who change things. Those are the men in this world who I would praise.
Upon first meeting and talking with Gerrit Breteler I knew I had found such a man. It is easy to be amazed by his talents. Purely in aesthetic terms I have immense respect and awe for his talent in painting and as I so recently heard singing and song writing. He is to various in his talents to be called anything but an amazing artist, and I am honored that he chose to paint me. Gerrit’s work stands not only for its quality though, but as a symbol of an ideal. It is an ideal of excellence and a pursuit of the exceptional that is rare and in my opinion one of the most important things missing in our society today. The Americans created something called the “pursuit of happiness,” but the true meaning of that ancient statement is lost to the world of 2006. Instead we sit and watch horrible reality television shows like “de gouden kooi” or watch the producers of “Temptation Island” lead us like a parade of hedonistic clueless pigs into moral oblivion and intellectual destitution.
Gerrit’s influence on my life has been a breath of fresh air and a confirmation that I am not alone in believing that my generation, untouched by the horrors of the great wars and born in the bastion of western wealth and safety, is in great need of a paradigm shift. My generation is in desperate need of a pursuit of excellence. Gerrit’s painting and his singing and poetry are the most eloquent expression of this need, when contrasted with the rotting heart of an entertainment industry who sold its soul to Paris Hilton. The pathetic people who have sacrificed there freedom in the so called “gouden kooi,” for money and material gain, are the newest and ugliest symbols of this. In the face of this new reality of moral bankruptcy, Gerrit’s art sheds light on another time and another way of life; a life more beautiful, rewarding and an example to me and my generation. My words may sound hollow when compared to the passion and the depth that Gerrit conveys on canvas and in song, but I at least want to praise him. I want to praise him for showing us all that a pursuit of excellence in the form of beautiful art is a noble and worthy battle to fight. For me, it’s an inspiration.