Bob is having fun II. Painting

My work explores identity problems, and the relation of the instinct‐self and the social‐self. I am interested in stimulating the consciousness, classifying emotions, observing the self from an outside point of view, the suppression of experiencing something deeply and the estrangement from oneself. The uncertainty, the self‐control and the acceptance of the constant questioning provide safety and truthfulness. I am not primarily interested in the result and finding the answers, but the process of wondering without a result. These ’hard to express by words’ processes appear in picturesque motifs and symbols before my eyes and that is how I manage to apprehend my thoughts and feelings. These observations are the ones that can be understood and mutually felt by the viewers. There are certain circumstances, where we let go of our self‐control, where our unknown and sociable instinct‐self resurfaces. In these situations, we let ourselves be taken over by unusual and unsuppressed emotions. For me, these circumstances were at first love and nature, and now the home as a kind of romantic ideal. I am interested to explore the connection between the home and outside, self and society, how societal expectations result in ambivalence in our emotions, thoughts and the way our behaviors and personality changes due to outside influences, the fact that our “social self” is becoming more and more alien to us and I am wondering how aware of all this we are. Ideally, it should be believed that one has an ideal, inner ‘sacred’ center, which can be defined as one’s true self, and within my work, this warmness of the home embodies the ‘ideal self’.