Soft words I tell myself
This body of work has been inspired by how hard I am on myself as a person and also as an artist.
I started telling myself soft words as a contrast to the feeling of having to be the largest person, constantly bettering myself and having to do everything alone (according to myself). The two works ‘Daydream for a couple of hours’ and ‘Even when no one is looking’ are based on selfportraits and reflect both harsh and soft sides.
All works on show in Utrecht until the end of June 2024.
Imaginary friends
My imaginary friends are part of this collection.
I’ve been painting my own Imaginary Friends for years (but have only recently started calling them that). They’re a break from my larger work and are a place to experiment with texture, colour and expression. They’re usually drawn without reference and have a recurring cast of characters from my imagination.
I think that at different moments in time, characters appear on my paper to help me solve certain problems I run into. Sometimes that’s a younger childlike character to help me see things less seriously and sometimes that’s a confident, I-deserve-everything-in-life character. They’re my imaginary friends and are helping me see.
