Oil stick on 2 pieces of wood, 2010, approx. 20 x 10 cm
What are you working on in your studio right now?
Because
of the huge high walls off my studio it's a great place to try anything that
comes into my mind. I can pin different art works together on the wall and try
different combinations. Currently I am preparing for an exhibition in the month
of June in Friesland, that is very near where I live. The title of the
exhibition is 'Far Worlds, Ireland'. The Lithographs that I made last summer in
Ireland while I was artist an residence fit in with other older art works.
Every new combination of art works accentuates certain aspects that I see on my
wall and everything changes constantly
Can you describe your working routine?
I enter
my studio and the first thing that I do is to take my everyday Moleskin drawing
book and a pencil and I start to draw. I don't have a plan. The only thing is
it should be a horizontal drawing or a vertical one. The themes of the drawings
change from day to day and I can go from a very black mood drawing to a light
dreamy kind of theme the next day. It is like a drawing diary. The mood that I
am in and things that have happened to me, can be read directly from the
drawing of the day. I always find it very inspiring just to sit down and draw
and look at my other artworks as well.
Can you describe your studio space and how, if at all,
that affects your work?
My
studio is in an old school building which I share with 16 other artists. The
walls of the room are 4 meters high and it is very light because of the big
windows on the south. The big walls give me the opportunity to play along with
different kind of art works and techniques together on the wall. My studio is
in Groningen which is a medium sized city in the north of the Netherlands with
a University.
Oil stick on Irish bog oak, 2008, approx. 12 x 2 cm
Tell me about your process, where things begin, how
they evolve etc.
This is
a quote of a colleague of mine concerning my artworks: “I defy painting in
every possible way there is”. I want to find out where the limit is for me.
Often my art works have a lighthearted, humorous attitude in which I try, for
myself, to be relative the history of painting. I often wonder what an art work
is and what can be a medium to create it on. In the past I made a painting on a
spatula, strips of wood and I had a preference for long thin and divergent
canvasses. While creating these artworks I questioned myself, what can be a
medium to create a painting on? And how do these artworks relate to each other
and the space of the wall around them? The next phase in this process was to
make my paintings more like objects. I used French oakwood or Irish bog oak to
create a painting on and I left parts of the surface unrefined.
I have
experimented a lot with material because I want find new ways of painting and
drawing. One of my experiments is to use big sheets of sanding paper. I cut it
into a shape, then paint it with gesso and some color and burn it with a very
hot soldering iron. This very brutal way of drawing creates special lines and
surfaces. After this I made a few art works which you could literally see
through. For example a painted fringe made out of wood. When looking at it more
closely you will experience that the middle is empty. Is this also a part of
the art work? Can this “emptiness” in the middle of the art work be seen as
full or empty? Because of this the art work seems to be part of the wall and
because of this double vision it is hard to know what you are seeing. Utensils
also fit in this process of the painting as an object. I used a matchstick or
other large sticks to apply oil sticks or paint on them. Then they become more
than ordinary daily utensils and they get double meaning because you can still
see the function but can’t use it anymore.
I
always find it important that my art works are spatial and flat objects on the
wall. They make you aware of the space around them….The art work doesn’t stop
at its border but should be thought through the space of the walls that
surround it. That why I place them next, above and under each other. In this
way the white off the wall is important to and they act like they are one big
artwork.
22-2-2012, drawing in moleskine
What are you having the most trouble resolving?
The
question what should I do next or what will be the next move.
Do you experiment with different materials a lot or do
you prefer to work within certain parameters?
I use
wood, paper, newspapers, sanding paper, carton and lino. I use these materials
as a basis for oil sticks. I also create Lithographs if I go to Ireland to stay
and work as an artist in residence, which I did twice already.
What does the future hold for this work?
Who knows?
Gouache on 3 spoons, 2009, approx. 5 x 5 cm
Gouache on spoons !! i love that rough white texture that looks as though the wall is making its way onto the spoons ... you could eat the walls?
ReplyDeletegreat "studio Critical" Wilma.