Mopti, Mali - I am the river of all their sorrows because their well has now gone dry - Bert Taken (acrylic on canvas 60x80 cm) Painting

I travel a lot. I am interested in other ways of life, customs and views/perspectives that constantly question my own values and norms/standards time and time again. Often I notice that a memory is not quit identical to what the old photo seems to show. Have my memories changed over the years? Or did the old photo not represent the real situation? What is true and do I really want to know it exactly? In my paintings I usually make use of my travel photos. I make a crop or a collage and translate it into large patches of colour in a limited color palette. Then I start with a brush and black paint on 'my journey' over the canvas. In doing so, I sometimes try to 'reconstruct' the original image, but then also create my own truth again. I experience this 'brush-walk' across the canvas as a metaphor for life. If my brush neatly follows the boundaries of the color planes, then the painting (life) becomes boring and predictable. If I do not take the surfaces into account, the whole becomes chaotic and meaningless. Two dimensions arise in the work. By constantly changing between 'following' and 'deviating' a scandalous dialogue arises between the newly drawn reality and the roughly colored memories. By switching between the two dimensions, each painting constantly reveals new details and memories while in the meantime others disappear.