In The Pines

Caryatid as a woman soldier, or 'Scylla was a monster' 50x30cm oil on canvas 2018

Metamorphosen 33, or 'Io used to be a cow.' 40x30cm oil on canvas 2018

In the pines I, or 'Echo used to be mute', 40x30cm oil on canvas 2018

In the pines 2, or 'Syrinx was hollow water reed', 40x30cm oil on canvas 2018

Labels written for the exhibition 'In the Pines' 2018

The addition of labels, or how important it is to communicate what we think and feel. The labels are twisting the plot of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Ovid turned the one who is chased into a laurel bush, while the persuer could to get away. It's time to become human again.

In the Pines
an exhibition by Tramaine de Senna & Eline De Clercq
Haecken en Ooghen | Klapdorp 35, 2000 Antwerpen, België 
‘In the Pines’ 17 November tot 09 December 2018 | Za - Zo van 14h - 18h

The metamorphosen, or imaginary portraits 2018 oil on canvas 40x30cm

The Metamorphosen series, part 32 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 31 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 30 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 29 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 28 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 27 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 26 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 25 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 24 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 23 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 22 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 21 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 17 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 14 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 12 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 10 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 8 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018
 

The Metamorphosen series, part 6 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 5- oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 24 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 3 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 2 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 1 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 20 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 16 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 19 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 18 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 15 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 14 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 7 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 9 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 13 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

The Metamorphosen series, part 11 - oil on canvas - 40x30cm - 2018

‘The metamorphosen’ is a series of paintings based on the stories by Ovid, the Roman writer who describes how people are saved from their persecutor by being changed into a tree, or a cow, or a bird. As these stories are often punishing the victim rather than saving them, I used the theme in my paintings to change the characters into women again. The labels to go with these paintings indicate their past. She is a collective memory of the girl weighing apples in the supermarket or the woman waiting in the doorway for the rain to stop, or any of all the other inspiring women I see.

Kopje

'Kopje' means 'cup' in Dutch, we have the distinction between 'hoofd' and 'kop' both mean head, but 'kop' is for animals and informal for people.

In my book on Japanese treasures is a selection of cups, imperfect and irregular, they are the center of an otherwise empty photograph. The relation between portraiture and these photos is direct and almost raw, uncensored and painfully fragile as we treasure the quality.

In my atelier the paintings, portraits or heads, are stacked cups. They are containments, no longer able to communicate their thoughts and the only thing that remains is what they looked like. 'Kopjes' becomes an euphemism for what happens when time passes. The painting ages, but we are long gone.

How to flee from the abyss? To shout at the top of our voice? This old Japanese ceramic dish contains everything I like, a shape that rebels with simplicity, colours deep and bright, a reflection of light on the gold painted fish and a blue that pulls your heartstrings. 

Last week I was hiding under a tree in a forest, the rain was very loud and drained every other noise. The air smelled of pine trees, leaves, earth and mushrooms and it was sunny while it rained. It's impossible to paint this, or even photograph it.

The memory of this evening walk is in my 'kopje', it is my national treasure and when I leave, I will take it with me.

Coulisses, photos and collages for studies.

coulisses 1 collage of prints 2017

In 2017 I was invited to the fashion show of Ann Demeulemeester in Paris. The show took place in the wonderful Musée de l'Homme and I arrived early.

coulisses 2 collage of prints 2017

The photos from that event inspired the work 'coulisses' or how it feels to be waiting in the shadows, ready to step into the light. I made collages from the prints as a first study and to look into the deformations.

the muses, collage of prints 2017

All these women are beautiful, but their appearance wasn't my first concern. I liked how the light reflects on their skin and how the shadows shape their faces. There is a softness to them like the early hours of dawn.

coulisses 3 collage of prints 2017

These photographs also started the series 'the almost portrait' as they move away from the person and don't focus any more.

almost portrait, collage of prints 2017

Oyster shell with paint.

A long time ago artists used shells to hold their paint. In 2014 I made some of these colours from woodpaste and paint in an oyster shell.

In school we had a timeline above the green board, showing evolution from past over present to future. It seems to me we look at it wrong, presented like this we place ourself outside of this timeline. Instead, we should look at it from the centre of the line itself, like in a dot where past and future meet. This way we are at all times at once. That is how it really is, the chair wasn't built today, and you weren't born right now, we are past, present and future. We are the meeting point between dinosaurs and new species to come. These oyster shells in my atelier are the meeting point of past painters and future works.

Still life with Belgian andives: my first oil paintings in 1997.

In 1997 in the class of Marc Maet I started as a first year student at KASK. After an introduction Marc announced: you can start now. I had almost nothing: some cheap paint, cardboard and a still life that was also going to be dinner.  During the afternoon I made two little paintings, after I finished the first I just started all over again.

 

I have a theory about how the first paintings made by an artist already contain the later style, at that time I was looking at these paintings and wondered what my later style would be. I assumed something with enlarged scale, a three part composition, light reflections... and what I didn't know yet: repetition. 

Robbie Snelders 40x30cm oil on canvas 2018

I'm working on a series about Robbie Snelders, and the series starts with a very gentle portrait, only soft edges and warm colours. This little portrait is about holding on to who you love and care for.  Not from photos or a live sitting model, I painted these from memory and this is how I would like to remember him.

Robbie Snelders - lemon yellow 40x30cm oil on canvas 2018 

The very difficult part of painting, for me, is to be accurate and give a precise shape, line or colour. 

Robbie Snelders Naples yellow 40x30cm oil on canvas 2018