statement

My work consists of paintings, drawings and installations with narrative characteristics. It usually functions in series. Typical are the attention to detail, the use of negative space‚ and the theatrical atmosphere in my work. I use myself and my loved ones to act in carefully arranged performances, projecting personal fears and fantasies into the characters I create. I'm treating issues such as  human vulnerability, consolation, mutual dependence, trust, beauty and decay. These performances, done without an audience, are captured in photos which then form the source of my work. I then take the figure out of its context and repeat it again and again with different media (ink, watercolour, oil) each time applying small variations and angles of approach. Sources of inspiration can be the medical world, religious representations of sin and hell, images of people in conflict areas, and horror movies.

I generally overuse light to shape the images so I can reuse the strong contrasts appearing on the photographs to cut out some elements and highlight others. When elements are cut out in my work, it is never by accident, but it is the absence of an element that maps its presence. It is part of the narrative.

The tension between the explicit visual language and the aesthetic, sensitive and colorful appearance of the work can be conceived as a mockery of the atrabilious. For me, creating new work is a way to capture the magic of everyday life and to relate to our vulnerability and fears.

bio

born:1978, Zwolle, The Netherlands

education:

HKU (Utrecht School of Fine Arts), BFA, 2001

selected awards/honors

Nomination for the Dutch Royal Painting Prize 2007‚ (NL), 2007
Young Talent Prize 2001, PKU, Utrecht (NL), 2001

selected publications

Manifest Gallery & Drawing Center, INDA 6, Cincinnati , OH, 2012
Article, Portraying Absence , Liv Vaiberg for Ponyhoffreshpaint,10/03/2011
Exhibition catalogue, Hiwaar Expo 2060, Antwerp (B), de Wrikker Press p. 43, 2009

selected solo or two-person exhibits

White Lies, Oever 21 Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, 2010
Winding, Galerie Janssen & De Vries, Culemborg, The Netherlands,  2009
OBJECT, Atelier 5, Bonn, Germany,  2008
Trust, Galerie S&S, Antwerp, Belgium, 2007

selected group shows

Truc Troc 7th, Bozar Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 2011
Riffling Through My Drawers, Wei Art Space, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2010
HIWAAR, Urban Installations in Antwerp North, Antwerp, Belgium, 2009
Dutch Royal Painting Prize 2007, Gemeente Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2007