Artist statement

For a long time, I have been captivated by both the potential and the fact of change, transformation and metamorphosis. The often unpredictable outcomes of such developments – abrupt or gradual, chosen or reinforced - can evoke fear as much as new perceptions of life.

At their core, they are intricately linked to and give colours to our perceptions of time.

As a painter I aim to invent a language for everyday experiences in my life and the lives of others, for the interweaving of emotional intensities and colours, grief and memories, hopes, disappointments and healing, becoming and fading, restriction and liberation.

Psychological and philosophical perspectives have strongly influenced my approach, which – while dismissing a formal division between abstract and figurative – taps into a visual’s potential to hold what seems dispersed, contradictory and fleeting. This quality a painting shares with a poem. It holds layers of time, affective worlds and what evades representation within the materiality and work of paint.

I found parallels to my work in Renaissance illuminations for alchemical treatises, which I admire and have been quoting indirectly in my work. The symbolic alchemical imagery in these ancient works explores journeys of identity and consciousness while proposing transformative ways of working with conflict and diversity.

Engaging in a dialogue with mythological Baroque (e.g., Poussin) and contemporary painting (e.g., Twombly) that engages with the subjects mentioned, allows me to contribute to the ongoing tradition of exploring identity and time through painting.