How do you describe your own art practice?
My work can be best described as ‘object research painting projects’, which means a precise research of material properties and behaviour. This leads to minimal, but at the same time extreme interventions. I use both traditional artistic materials (like paint) and industrial or ephemeral materials (e.g. plastics, emulsions, hair gel or shampoo) drawn from everyday life in the making of my paintings, drawings and installations. I am interested in the dialogue between the space and my work. Most of all I want to communicate the fun and play involved in making my work.
What was your first experience with art?
In my teens the first art show I was touched by was a show of Willem de Kooning at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. I think my first experience making art was when I was a small child eating dessert. I would get a plate of white yoghurt and a splash of red lemonade, my favorite, over it. I’d take my spoon and start to stir. Each day the mixture looked different. After I had finished stirring I’d eat what I created!
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
The world around me; so many things! White, light (shining on water or trees), space, food, sweets, design, music, fashion, architecture, office supplies, pink, the sky, water, ice, plastics, tape, thread, industrial materials, make-up, perfumes, body cream, tape, paint, cleaning products, etc. etc.
What do you need in order to create your work?
A clear head and a place to work in to concentrate, in order to discover new things that come to me in a natural way when I step into my studio and jump into whatever inspires me at that moment.
What are you working on at the moment?
My studio is full of various series I am working on at the same time. Like my hand knits on paper; stretched materials over frames and my ongoing series ‘unfinished’. I’m also preparing a few shows and an update of my web site with fresh works!
What work or artist has most recently surprised you?
Peter Luining, known as ctrlaltdel.org. He is an artist, philosopher, critic, writer and curator. His way of thinking and looking at the world, translated into his projects that are often underground and performed in the night on the streets in Amsterdam, are very inspiring. His work mainly focuses on the Internet. It plays, in the broadest sense, with items that people come across when they are using the Internet. Such as interactivity, icons, sound. By isolating these elements or turning them around, new experiences and meanings appear.
