The creative process of a painting often takes place out of sight of the viewer. Many hours of labor lie behind the final image. With this, I would like to offer you a small glimpse behind the scenes.
Anecdote: I once bought two pencil sketches of male nudes at a gallery. These two nudes were created by students at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam in the first half of the 20th century. It’s impossible to trace what became of the students, but the man seen from behind served as the inspiration for the man at the center of my canvas. The white areas are the reflection of the glass in the picture frame, which adds even more tension to the figure.
Free Will – Last Will – 2026 – acrylic on canvas – 180 x 100 cm
A man seen from behind is faced with a choice: turn left, turn right, or go straight. He has to choose, but he’d rather not—not now…
The paradox:
If you don’t have it, you want it. If you have it, you want more. If you have more, you want it all. If you have it all, you want abundance. If you have abundance, decision fatigue awaits.
If you choose arbitrarily, solid options fade away. If you choose not to choose, others do the balancing.
Coming soon: International Group Exhibition ‘COMMON GROUND’atLarry Gallery
Exhibition COMMON GROUND – Sea Of Tranquility on display at Larry Gallery, Kortrijk Belgium
This exhibition is curated by Nicolaes Devriendt, Larry Gallery, and showcases 27 international artist including myself.
27 artist will be presented on two locations in Courtrai, Belgium, over a six week period. It opens at January 29th to March 15th at these two locations: Koning Leopold I straat 26 & Groeningestraat 36.
I wil exhibit two of my latest works there; Sea Of Tranquility and Space Invaders.
“Common Ground reflects the gallery’s ongoing commitment to emerging talent. It reinforces an understanding of contemporary art that values depth, risk, and independence over instant legibility.”
This quote is attributed to: Kisito Assangni (Togolese-French curator, art consultant) who wrote an item about this upcoming exhibition in Artdependence Magazine.
Wonderful news, my painting ‘ Last Gatekeepers Of Lost Revolutions’ has been shortlisted in the Singulart International Women’s Day 2025 Award!
The jury states that it stands out with its unique perspective on the theme of (female) Bravery.
Acryl op canvas 100/150 cm
About the work itself: Hovering female figures spreading their arms wide open and floating around. They are jumping and moving simultaneously. They are clearly present and strong. The last gatekeepers is referring to a world where young men, the proverbial sons, are sent to war by other men. This is why, I believe, when women rule, wars will end. No mother in her right mind will ever send her child voluntarily to a war, any war.
Last Gatekeepers Of Lost Revolutions is part of the Metropolitan series and is currently on display in Bruxelles handled by Bernice, Art Rental and Gallery in Temse.
Happy to report that my painting “Turist” found a new and very loving home this week. Sold to an art enthusiast from Zwolle and it fits beautifully there.
Blij te melden dat mijn schilderij ‘Turist’ deze week een nieuw en heel fijn thuis heeft gevonden. Ze is verkocht aan een Zwolse kunstliefhebber en het hangt er prachtig.
In Our Nature 2024- Acrylic on canvas- part of the Side Show series
The blue letters on a paper bag smiled at me from the roadside, It has been there for a while, at least a few days. Yet it hasn’t been so long that either the blue is discoloured or the bag half-decayed. It still looks fresh. Next to the bag, scraps of what was probably a burger. A piece of grey matter in yellow-pink goo hangs bloodlessly from a white bag, with green limp lettuce leaves and a sliver of tomato as irrefutable evidence of knowledge of good nutricion. A pair of soulless and limp fries stick out of a bright red cardboard container. A striped straw protrudes triumphantly from a large white cup with plastic cap which combined with the red tray of fainted fries gives a festive look. What a happy meal this must have been.
Everywhere I look I find these silent testimonies of feeding frenzy that apparently had to take place then and there and that after a big burp of pleasure suddenly became too much. Was it too heavy on the stomach to move what was left just an inch?
Evidently, that which was picked up, wheeled around and nibbled on full of desire and gluttony had to be disassociated from as soon as possible, immediately in fact.
Those who love blue letters can move from A to B while scrabbling. Those less fond of it see mostly a correlation.
Insomnia(a bed piece about bed peace)-Acryl op canvas- 155 x 90 cm- 2024
This canvas took me a while. The messy bedding, duvet and wrinkled sheets forced me to look closely and study what was actually happening there in that fabric. I saw so much detail, hue differences in grey tones, fold lines, creases and bulges that had almost human traits, that there was practically no way out. In the second instance, I chose to leave out a lot of detail again, by erasing it. The turmoil in the image depicts my own turmoil from a while ago. This is my reckoning with that period.
2023- Haunting thoughts kept me awake during a period of 3 months. The thought of haunting thoughts kept me awake. The fear of the thoughts of the haunting thoughts kept me awake and made me anxious to go to bed.
Tossing and turning, it seemed a never ending attempt to silence my restless heart. Tried [too] hard to ignore noises of wind blowing, cats on roof, a car starting, a street conversation, a train passing, a party in the distance, even the comforting respiration of my man and the snoring of my cat. I hold my heart and belly as my breath is too high up and going too fast.
My eyes wide shut.
Hoping to shut the flow of insecure and sad voices within.
A glance at the alarm clock tells me that it’s four AM.
I scare myself.
All I ever really wanted was peace, peace of mind, peace of heart, bed peace.
