Now that I slowly can get back to work, I have some renewed energy to write a blog again. This summer I read the book ‘Het Sublieme‘ by Hans den Hartog Jager, in which he describes the decline and rise of ‘beauty’ in Contemporary Art. An interesting book about the meaning of ‘the sublime’, which made me think about my role within the art world. ‘In which tradition does my work fit into?’ was the question that mostly stuck. Of course this is a question for art historians to answer, but I thought I’d give it a try. In any case, it gives an insight into how I think about my work, regardless of whether it fits into an art movement.

Just like my work, in terms of tradition I am also in-between different movements. That’s why I don’t classify myself as Avant-garde, because I’m a loner in that regard and I don’t sett off against any previous movements. In my opinion, the foundation lies in Abstract Expressionism, in which the search for a kind of universal experience is key. The essence of our existence and in my case the intermediate experience. I also fit the profile of an l’Art Pour l’Art artist, as an individual thinker and maker. This idea is the foundation of Modern Art in the 20th century. It is my sublime intermediate experience that I believe in and that I want to share. If you go even further back in time, I can still see connections with the art of the Romantics. First comes the experience and then the real questions arise naturally. In Romanticism, beauty plays an important role in evoking that experience. For me, that beauty is the tension between contradictions.

I also feel a link with Conceptual Art, in which the idea is more important than its aesthetic value. I work with rules and freedoms in a concept and implement that on the painting, but I also decide when the painting is finished. The concept from which my work evolves is more important than the form, but I do have an image in my head of what the form should be. It’s the tension between the rules and freedoms, but also the moment when I find the intermediate experience and finish the work. This moment always comes from a feeling, which is contradictory to the Conceptual Art movement. Like beauty, deliverance is one of the great pillars of art. Artists want to offer a different, interesting view of reality and free the viewer from its daily grind. Of course I do too, but I think the counterpart is just as important. Total liberation does not exist and liberation can only be experienced within rules. That’s why this intermediate experience is so interesting to investigate. Freeing ourselves, while simultaneously confronting our boundaries.

Nowadays, social art is trending in a combination of Post-Modernism and Engagement. Partly caused by 9/11, which even art couldn’t ignore. A social interest had to return and the artist could no longer act as an individual maker based on the l’Art Pour l’Art idea. I think that art has always been a reflection of the zeitgeist, but now the spectator has a more prominent role. Which eventually gives art more value to our society in my opinion. What I do want to ensure is that art must not become too political, too activist or too socially involved, because there must also be room for art alone, such as beauty and deliverance. Therefore, I see myself part of the present movement but also within the motives of the 20th century. I feel the strong need to involve the viewer, but I don’t want to convince them. I find putting up the mirror more interesting and to play with the tension between viewer and maker. This is also the reason that I use other forms of communication, such as a t-shirt or my process videos. And to be visible outside the gallery world, because there is also another audience out there.