Zero-gravity
artist statement
For more than two decades, my artistic journey has been an exploration of the forgotten and decaying fragments of materials we leave behind. My art is a tribute to beauty found in decay, a visual celebration of the fragility of forgotten fragments, and a experiment with the infinite possibilities of recombination.
I have dedicated my time to the art of collecting, curating and recombining found materials, with a particular fascination with partially decayed pieces of paper.
These fragile, faded remnants of daily life have become my inspiration, each one of astonishing beauty to be uncovered and transformed when picked out of the piles of paper folders, digital folders and boxes I’ve collected. In time, collages made by hand or several apps emerge from this personal archive.
The last years I started making works in my Koke-dera serie. Koke dera is the Japanese name for moss temple. It is the unofficial name for the Saihō-ji Temple in Kyoto.
Experiencing the moss gardens of Koke-dera inspired me to make these landscapes out of the found pieces paper I collected and digitized.The softness of a parc covered in moss. It all seems like one big fluffy pillow without limits for a moment. Heaven merges with earth, everything green. A world of softness where every jarring sound, forceful movement, or harsh light is absorbed and disempowered.
In 2010 I started making velvety prints on handmade paper. Edits in Photoshop of details from previous collages. Almost monochrome blow-ups. Due to the absorbent effect of the paper, the ink became like moss. Over the years, I have been able to achieve the feel of the moss gardens better with misty landscapes. Images in which the boundary between heaven and earth blur and gravity seems to disappear for a moment.
These works are an attempt to visualize this ideal of an upholstered world, offering a quiet solace and a gentle sense of well-being. This attempt is not one of grandeur but seeks beauty in the small, the subdued, and the modest; an image that nods to the familiar and gracefully transcends it when you have a better look at it.
A fascination for (decaying) paper
Paint cabinet
Studies of color and tones.
A fascination for (decaying) paper
Collecting scraps of paper.
Below: a video showing how I made a leaf texture in Adobe Photoshop. The texture adds the necessary light dark effect to the previous layers of paper, by making the leaf texture transparent and by erasing some parts. The texture is build up out of 3 scraps of paper found in the streets.