A new year, a new series of paintings. By now the new studio was slowly filling up. I suppose that could be a good or a bad thing, depending how you looked at it...
The series "Getting Dressed 1" (oil on canvas, 190 x 190 cm) took me a long time to paint, although they looked simple enough. (Which was the whole point, of course.) They started off being very complex, with many colors, lines etc... Then, gradually, I reversed to process. The paintings in this series weren’t worked on one at a time, but all at the same time, as one painting, or a triptych if you like.
"Getting Dressed 2" (oil on canvas, 190 x 190 cm). Something I did these last couple of years was what I called "overpainting". First I painted the subject in detail, or at least as minute as I wanted to, and ones the canvas was dry, I overpainted it completely. Back to the silhouette in a way. And although all the former details are no longer visible, they were still there.
"Getting Dressed 3" (oil on canvas, 190 x 190 cm).
“Threesome” (oil-stick on canvas,170 x 200 cm) that I made in 1990 was part of a short series of oil-stick paintings that were an attempt to reconcile drawing with painting. The reason why I show this now is because I painted another version that year.
The painting "Foursome" (oil on canvas, 175 x 200 cm) was, subject wise, a second version of "Threesome" from 1990. (It's named Foursome because I painted a plant as an extra participant.)
“Slippers” (oil on canvas, 175 x 200 cm).
In general I hardly made any fur-paintings anymore (except the occasionally commission) because all my energy went to the new series in oil. This being said, sometimes the urge to make a new one was too alluring to ignore. Like in this case a seascape. Its 140 cm high and a whopping 400 cm wide because a seascape is actually a horizon. I didn't like small horizons, I guess. And furthermore its a seascape by full moon, hence the title "Midnight".
I created a new set of Sumi (enamel on pvc, 100 x 140 cm) that eventually went to an exhibition in Singapore. - They sold well. As I said before, every Sumi was based on the traditional Japanese ink paintings Sumi-é, a derivative of calligraphy, and inspired by a Haiku. You could say that Sumi were like a painted Haiku, like poetry on plastic. “The lamp once out Dreams will enter The window frame.”
Sumi (enamel on pvc, 100 x 140 cm) “After the twilight rain The brilliant-hued sky - A lovely sunset.”
Sumi (enamel on pvc, 100 x 140 cm) “At a silent pond A frog jumps into the water, Splash! Silence again.”
Sumi (enamel on pvc, 100 x 140 cm) “In the moonlight, The color of the leaves Seems far away.”
I did some preliminary sketches for the play "Gloria". One of them ended up as a poster design.
The set design for the play "Gloria" was basically a landscape. A cornfield to be precise. The abandoned oldtimer represented a house, or some sort of home, if you wish.
2013
Another preliminary sketch for the play "Gloria".
2013
Instead of the classic curtain for the play "Gloria", I used the set itself, made from orange silk pipes.
When the "cornfield" was lifted at the beginning of the play "Gloria" it revealed the oldtimer standing inside. Creating a cornfield on stage wasn't practical so I decided to hang it up-side-down to get the effect I wanted. After all, a landscape wasn't about where things were but how much depth was created.
One of the closing scenes for the play "Gloria".
The Gordian Knot: It is a metaphor for an intractable problem solved easily by finding an approach to the problem that renders the perceived constraints of the problem moot. Or to quote Shakespeare: "Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian Knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as her garter…" It's a group of three paintings, the first one titled "Gordian orgy" (oil on canvas, 190 x 190 cm).
The second painting of the series called - The Gordian Knot, was "Down Under" (oil on canvas, 175 x 200 cm).
The third painting of the series called - The Gordian Knot, was "Flying Around!" (oil on canvas, 175 x 200 cm).