As a young boy it was comics that inspired me to draw, and art has been my passion ever since. In my observations of daily life, I explore the effects of light and reflections on contrast and colour harmony. With an eye for randomness I view the ordinary from extraordinary angles or at extraordinary moments. In my still-life and (urban) landscape oil paintings, I seek the drama, the exaggerated and the surprising in objects and places. My style of work is grounded in classic and impressionistic oil painting practice, yet influenced by European graphic novels and Dutch graphic tradition.
To share my observations, I look and interpret, and I then isolate and emphasize my subjects. My still-lifes take this approach, creating visual narratives of moments in time, and of lives well lived. My paintings reveal rich colours and the play of light and shadows.
My nocturnes show the dream world of our cities created by artificial lights. Rainy night reflections create bursts of colour, and reveal our theatrical surroundings. These paintings are a testament to the vibrancy of the city, and vary from broader contextual city views, to close-ups that render more abstract compositions as the artificial lights create magic on small and large scale.
On Strings is a series of narrative oil paintings that illustrate the human dichotomy of being fully liberated and ever dependent. The final paintings are done in a realistic style with a layering a number of glazes, while the studies are done with a looser hand of painting.
