"Samael" Painting

Dutch/American mixed-media artist, main focus on painting.
I was raised in a Russian-orthodox household. Our house was filled with icons. As an atheist it took a while before I realized and accepted the impression these works made on me then. It's evident in the graphic style I employ today in which every line is holy and depth is irrelevant to create my portrait-like depictions of people and creatures. Similar to iconography, I try to evoke in the viewer a need to connect with these figures.
These deep-rooted impressions have also led to my interest in naïve, primitive and outsider art and Renaissance portraiture. Besides these inspirational wells to draw from, a natural inclination towards found and unconventional material form the base of my work. I feel a strong need to claim material by repurposing it. Yet in doing so I honor it with the time-consuming task of committing my rigid visual imagery to the coarse and unpredictable fiber of a carpet, the grain in an old wooden panel, the creases in a piece of cloth. By combining the static with the tactile, the inward struggle that drives me as an artist becomes visible: a fear to connect, yet constantly reaching out to be touched.