what's up
THE ISLAND
For the last couple of years I've been working on a multimedia project which I call 'the island'.
Inspired by a small man made tropical island that I visit often when paddling out at sea, where I catch myself time and time again unconsciously pretending to be on a deserted island like in my childhood favourite film; 'the Blue Lagoon' or "Robinson Crusoe".
Living in Singapore, the third most densely populated country in the world, it is nearly impossible to 'get away', a problem which I automatically solve by my large imagination and ability to block out views I do not want.
All around the island are hundreds of container ships.
Any island near 'my island" is developed into either touristy places where music can be heard constantly, or into industries like the so called "Shell (the company) island" or 'the garbage island', where Singapore, because of lack of space, dumps and processes it's millions of tons or trash. The horizon is basically industrial. Once these were beautiful tropical idyllic islands in a clean, blue sea.
By nature, I tend to look away from all this, and focus on beauty. The real world is often not of my liking.
Perception.
I create my own world that way.
This is resulting in a body of work; video, printmaking, large scale drawings and photographs.
In this body of work, I play with the idea of paradise, storytelling, exoticism, sanity-insanity, a voyage into discovery where I, as a naturalist, discover a world that is fake, and thus, so does the viewer. The rocks are hollow and are falling apart. The sand is imported. The rocky shore are rows of stones neatly set side by side. The island isn't isolated at all. On the contrary. The man made paradise (man as creator, acting as God) is a failure. Utopia - dystopia..
But could you say that it is part of evolution still ? This urge to create ? Man as creator ?
Darwin writes in "the Voyage of the Beagle";
"Man at last has been enabled to understand his own role, his own true position in nature and in the world we live in.'
RECOVER
A recent video that I just finished is "Recover", a poetic piece of a man in kayak who practises the so called 'eskimo roll'..
Videos that are finished can be watched on Vimeo.
Email me at [email protected] for the password.
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
I made a series of drawing on'The Old man and the Sea". Inspired by Hemingway's novel, but most of all, by a lifelong love for the ocean, the drawings are very quiet and meditative. Drawn in pencil, each ripple, each line of the surface of the ocean is drawn with all the attention it deserves.
NEW MYTHOLOGIES; THE COVARRUBIAS SERIES
I made a series of seven large scale watercolour/charcoal drawings based on a texts from Miguel Covarrubias's book 'Island of Bali'. They are called "New mythologies; the Covarrubias series."
"The line between story worlds and the real world is never clear in Bali" (H.Geerts).
The book, which is an anthropological study of the island of Bali in the 1930's, written by artist Covarrubias, has texts which inspired me to make large complex drawings of often unexpected subjects.
OPHELIA SERIES
Another series that I worked on is the "Ophelia series". This series of prints is inspired by Shakespeare's "The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark". Ophelia is a fictional character in the tragedy, who drowns in a river because of a broken heart. A fascination of faces/bodies floating in water brought me to Ophelia. Mainly because she is so at ease in the water, becomes one with it. I made a series of work inspired by Ophelia’s part in the play.
“Even in death Ophelia is figured as an erotic figure. Gertrude suggests that Ophelia's drowning was a passive death; like being a native creature in the water, she neglects to save herself from sinking.
"And what is death but a long sleep, a most welcome forgetfulness'.
MEETING THE QUEEN
I represented DAiS (Dutch Artists in Singapore) at the Istana in Singapore where she meets President Tony Tan of Singapore, Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem Alexander & Princess Maxima of the Netherlands at the State Banquet.
click to see VIDEO;
For the last couple of years I've been working on a multimedia project which I call 'the island'.
Inspired by a small man made tropical island that I visit often when paddling out at sea, where I catch myself time and time again unconsciously pretending to be on a deserted island like in my childhood favourite film; 'the Blue Lagoon' or "Robinson Crusoe".
Living in Singapore, the third most densely populated country in the world, it is nearly impossible to 'get away', a problem which I automatically solve by my large imagination and ability to block out views I do not want.
All around the island are hundreds of container ships.
Any island near 'my island" is developed into either touristy places where music can be heard constantly, or into industries like the so called "Shell (the company) island" or 'the garbage island', where Singapore, because of lack of space, dumps and processes it's millions of tons or trash. The horizon is basically industrial. Once these were beautiful tropical idyllic islands in a clean, blue sea.
By nature, I tend to look away from all this, and focus on beauty. The real world is often not of my liking.
Perception.
I create my own world that way.
This is resulting in a body of work; video, printmaking, large scale drawings and photographs.
In this body of work, I play with the idea of paradise, storytelling, exoticism, sanity-insanity, a voyage into discovery where I, as a naturalist, discover a world that is fake, and thus, so does the viewer. The rocks are hollow and are falling apart. The sand is imported. The rocky shore are rows of stones neatly set side by side. The island isn't isolated at all. On the contrary. The man made paradise (man as creator, acting as God) is a failure. Utopia - dystopia..
But could you say that it is part of evolution still ? This urge to create ? Man as creator ?
Darwin writes in "the Voyage of the Beagle";
"Man at last has been enabled to understand his own role, his own true position in nature and in the world we live in.'
RECOVER
A recent video that I just finished is "Recover", a poetic piece of a man in kayak who practises the so called 'eskimo roll'..
Videos that are finished can be watched on Vimeo.
Email me at [email protected] for the password.
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
I made a series of drawing on'The Old man and the Sea". Inspired by Hemingway's novel, but most of all, by a lifelong love for the ocean, the drawings are very quiet and meditative. Drawn in pencil, each ripple, each line of the surface of the ocean is drawn with all the attention it deserves.
NEW MYTHOLOGIES; THE COVARRUBIAS SERIES
I made a series of seven large scale watercolour/charcoal drawings based on a texts from Miguel Covarrubias's book 'Island of Bali'. They are called "New mythologies; the Covarrubias series."
"The line between story worlds and the real world is never clear in Bali" (H.Geerts).
The book, which is an anthropological study of the island of Bali in the 1930's, written by artist Covarrubias, has texts which inspired me to make large complex drawings of often unexpected subjects.
OPHELIA SERIES
Another series that I worked on is the "Ophelia series". This series of prints is inspired by Shakespeare's "The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark". Ophelia is a fictional character in the tragedy, who drowns in a river because of a broken heart. A fascination of faces/bodies floating in water brought me to Ophelia. Mainly because she is so at ease in the water, becomes one with it. I made a series of work inspired by Ophelia’s part in the play.
“Even in death Ophelia is figured as an erotic figure. Gertrude suggests that Ophelia's drowning was a passive death; like being a native creature in the water, she neglects to save herself from sinking.
"And what is death but a long sleep, a most welcome forgetfulness'.
MEETING THE QUEEN
I represented DAiS (Dutch Artists in Singapore) at the Istana in Singapore where she meets President Tony Tan of Singapore, Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem Alexander & Princess Maxima of the Netherlands at the State Banquet.
click to see VIDEO;
