I really enjoy observing people and the way they connect, imaging which story is behind the surface. The more you look the more you see .. every day life is so full of emotion and variety, really worth visualising.
I started a series about people from everywhere uniting and hanging out, enjoying life in Amsterdam.
As belgian in Amsterdam it fascinates me that everyone feels at home in Amsterdam, something which is visually tangible in the Vondelpark
So No better place to sit down with my sketchbook to observe people and draw their connection
Back in my studio, i sketch possible compositions, change, add and replace people until it conveys a story about integration and communication.
I always start with what i see. Then i reduce the background to a colour. But what happens if i change the color? Does the connection continue to exist? To what extent can i discard of detail without loosing the relation between the people. How do i visualise unity with color, form and Rithm.
Eventually i needed less and less. Just enough to seduce the viewer to imagine their own story. The Vondelpark for everyone
2019, The year of Rembrandt in the Netherlands. A unique moment to get deeper in the painter, and to try to make a copy of Rembrandt his "Christ chasing the moneyexchanger from the temple (Temple Cleansing)" in my own way. I used different imprimatura's and different techniques. Kind of really like the end result.
So during a few weeks I have been sketching people and scenes in "Le Pain Quotidien". In my artstudio I translated those into painted stories about daily life, human interaction and communication. Because after all that's why we meet in "Le Pain Quotidien"... The result is this series "La vie quotidienne dans Le Pain Quotidien" (Daily life in the Pain Quotidien). Every painting is 14 x 18 cm (postcard format), in oil on panel or canvas and framed. They can be bought separately or in sets of 1 and 2
As I like people in general, i like to make their portraits. However making a portrait is always a way of communication, of connection between the model and the painter. So to get to understand better what i see, i like to meet the model, or at least talk about the person, to get to know him/her a bit. This way i can try to catch the person in a better way.