Direct Messaging
In this part I've put my Neo-expressionist paintings that are an observation of humanity and society. I'm always exploring and describing subjects that interest me, shock me, or influences and shapes my train of thoughts and the way I see and define beauty. The emotions that emerged concerning these subject gave me an inclination to communicate more directly with the viewer with a subservient role for superficial beauty.
dated 2019 until 2021
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Afternoon delight
2021Sex in the afternoon is for people who both experience their sexual freedom; for me, this painting is about equaly dividing this freedom and hence, equally dividing power between partners and genders.
Funeral in Beslan
2019
The People/Monsters series is an analysis of the consequences of destructive behaviour on micro ('I'm not that innocent'), meso ('drinking' the 'Cool-aid') and macro level (this painting)
The quick sketch I made watching the massive funeral after the hostage drama in Beslan, Russia turned out to be the starting point of a new style of working.
Like Monet said: the emotion and spontaneity in the sketch should be transferred to the canvas.
Hopefully I succeeded in doing that because this is such an important story; innocent people and children (who are innocent by definition) being crushed between fighting parties is one of the most horrible and primitive facts of this world that we, as humanity, should rise above.
' I' m not that innocent'
2020The people/monsters series is an analysis of destructive behaviour on macro (funeral in Beslan), meso ('drinking the 'Kool-aid') and micro level. This part deals with the latter: the Watts family murders and the effects of narcissistic personality disorder in everyday life. In the painting I depict Shannan Watts and her daughters Bella and CC in a rudimentary way to put the emphasis on the story about a seemingly perfect dad who brutally murdered his family in 2018. This case is particulary topical to this day and age because of the social media aspect; using Facebook live to sell her products Shannan created a moving catalogue of her life. These activities caused a lot of stress with Chris Watts, even a bigger necessity to constantly polish up his mask and prevent it from slipping off. The titel of the painting refers to the announcement of her pregnancy by wearing a shirt with the text: 'oeps we did it again', paraphrasing the Britney Spears song that also says: 'I'm not that innocent'!. My interest in the narcissistic personality disorder made me especially fascinated by this case. Also: the Girls were both born on the 17th, my lucky number, and Shannan's favoriete color was purple, like mine. The scale build from lotusflowers represents the power and wisdom we can achieve by gaining a bigger understanding of human nature. When we first learn about narcissism, it's still necessay to check for a zip, as we learn we will be more and more able to recognize the behaviours and protect ourselves from the wolf underneath. Lotusflowers grow on mud, like shannan, Bella, CC and Niko used to grow on something evil.
'Drinking' the 'Kool-aid'
2019
The People/Monsters series is an analysis of destructive behaviour on micro (I'm not that innocent) macro (funeral in Beslan) and meso level ( this canvas).
In this painting I depict Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple at the moment of their demise in september 1978 in the jungle of Guyana.
The title of this painting is 'drinking' the 'Kool-aid' because a lot of people, like the children, but also adults, didn't drink the poison that killed them voluntarily. Also, it wasn't Kool-Aid they laced with cyanide because at that point, funds were evaporated so they had the cheaper 'Flavor-aid'. Of course this painting isn't about soft-drinks but about fascism in a petrie dish. I consider this story to be interesting and important because of all the lessons that we can extract from it. Especially the way words were used to enchant, intimidate, an later: kill. But also lessons can be learned about poverty, religion and what can happen when people feel left out of society.
The light in the upper right corner at the end of the pathway symbolizing the planks they walked on in Jonestown, the redemption promised by Jim, but especially: the railroad that was used as navigation by the people who fled through the jungle to their freedom. Where the pavillion used to be and the bodies were laid out, yellow flowers are growing now.
An anonimous letter was found at the Guyana compound after the killings, the request (see letter right bottom of my painting) : tell the story and learn from it, so I'm trying to contribute my own small piece to that.
Synchronicity
2020Synchronicity is an interesting principle; how the universe seems to point in a certain direction by little everyday 'coincidences'. The day before making the sketch a song was playing in my head all day, it was the trance classic 'a thing called love' by Above and Beyond. The next morning I put on Instagram Stories and the first thing I heard was the akoustic version of the song, wich was a weird coincidence because its an old song put on Stories by trance dj/producer Alessandra Roncone. The universe pointed in the right direction, I was on the right freeway. The painting ia a collage of symbols: Matrix symbols like the left and right side I didn't choose, where people are plugged into the Matrix and believe they're leading a normal life on the left side, but are actually used as batteries. Because the driver didn't choose either side, the signal 57 is given which means : trust the fact that this change brings you on your heavenly track. 17 stands for thinking in the right direction, the Holy Trinity and the pyramids. In order to learn real life lessons, difficult or not, one has to follow the white rabbit. The reward will be a real life, like Neo has to learn in the movie, following the rabbit and swallowing the red pill (red head-rests of the car). To find reality and true happiness he has to redefine his concepts of that reality. Just like any of us needs to do for themselves. Then one can realize that one can bend reality around the spoon instead of trying to bend the spoon itself. Personal note: I haven't found a life partner yet so the passenger seat in this car is for someone else who's also not afraid of swallowing the red pill.