At the end of last summer 2020, when the temperature went to 30 degrees and more, it was too warm to work in my atelier, which is situated in an old building on the third floor where during the summer it is difficult to keep it cool. Therefore I started to work from my kitchen table at home where it was so much more comfortable. I bought some basic paint and brushes and began to make small works on cardboard packaging. These are the first two of the proces. During the day I saw these shades from street lanterns on the pavement and wanted them to paint them quite brutal on the cardboard canvas. It was also felt the urge to paint again for the and see where it would take me.
I started this work out of a unrecognasible stain, because of the first painting, which kept coming through, despite off layers of gesso and decided to let it be a starting point for this painting. The shape of an imaginary piece of exotic fruit came to mind. It became somewhat the root of this composition in which I felt it wanted to be flowing and organic. In this painting, paint is combined with collage and drawing, when you look close you can see it containes beads, ripped off cardboard and wooden parts. This work was send to an open call competition for the foundation villa Seurat in Paris. The competition had the theme ‘nature reasserts itself’
This second work, was made as a second part of the previous posted work titled; Lockdown part 1. It was originated during the semi lockdown in the fall of last year and has parallels with the situation in which it was created. It felt two sided, just like the pandemic in which we were set back from our daily life. The basics for the work were set by the first work and therefore it seemed easy to make another work. But just als the second period of lockdown it felt extra tough to maintain the concentration in the work and the need to be created. Although confusion and asking questions about creating work is not easy but at the end always good for making decisions.
This work received an honorable mention from galerie Biesenbach in Cologne during one of the ‘Open Calls’ for their online ‘Art Matters 2’ exhibition.
Two people totally entwined in each other. The work was started by sketches before the pandemie in august 2019, but stayed with me the whole time, trying to find a way to get this image transferred on canvas in the best possible way. During the first lock down the theme began to mean so much more to me. We almost forget it now, but nearly a year ago there were thoughts and fears about not being to able to touch each other. Your precious ones surrounding you. Not able, but wishing to hold. An almost unthinkable scenario became reality. The work was selected twice for a groups exhibition with the theme, Covid-19. Back to the proces of the work. Eventual, after a whole lot searching through sketches on paper and gouaches, I used an older, never finished work and painted the most essential parts of the image on canvas. This is the result. Which also shows me reaching for a wish to paint. Which I want to do a lot more.
The painting was both selected for the exhibitions ‘En Nu’ in Podium voor Hedendaagse Kunst ‘Pictura in Dordrecht from 2/8 till 16/8/2020 and For the current exhibition ‘Corona én de verkoop’ in Tekenlievend genootschap Pictura in Groningen from 11/3 till 11/4 2021
These works on paper (left over cardboard) were made in the first period of the lockdown in march of 2020. Staying inside the house most of the time at my temporarily different home than my own and due to the early sunny weather in the spring of 2020, I focused more on the things that surrounded me in my new home and very small balcony. The shadow of flowers and plants made a very sharp contour, every late afternoon when I drank my coffee on the balcony I saw these black contours on the wall and I decided to draw them very quickly. These three works are sort of a pilot around the idea of drawing shadows and I plan to make much more of them. It’s such nice thing to do something completely different…
These pictures were shot on location, during filming my artworks for the short video ‘Lost in pandemie’ which you can see in the previous blog. Personally, I like the pictures so much that I wanted to show them in a solo blog. Just for the esthetics of the photo’s. To me they both capture the feeling of totally left and lost in a setting and on the other hand, they seems to immerse naturally in the environment of streets, concrete, building waste and other decors of outside settings. Pictures taken in may 2020.
Last year three of my works were selected for the Festival de Artes Lanzarote & Fuerteventura 2020. Initiated by The Lacuna Studio’s in Lanzarote. The theme of the festival was Lost. Because of the COVID 19 pandemie it was not possible to exhibit the works for real. Instead of a physical presentation the organisation decided to transfer the exhibition into a digital art festival. Lacuna studio’s asked participating artists to think about activities around the festival. Because my works could not be presented for real, I decided to film my works in an lost enviroment during the first lockdown in The Netherlands. My artworks were placed in various situations around the street where I live, but they seem kind of lost. Lost in the silence of the pandemie, empty streets, quiet trainstations, people passing by without noticing the artworks. Because of the work is made with lost and found materials it seemed appropiate to use this setting. I even made a real presentation of 4 works on a deserted wall in back garden of a house nearby which was uninhabited at the time. For a moment it felt like a real art presentation. The video was posted on the YouTube canal of the ‘Lost’ festival by The lacuna studios.
