in between Painting

Always been asked why I have chosen to work with wood I can only say that I love this material for so many reasons. It brings its own story into the picture, it reveals its character while you work with it and keeps its final secret till the moment when you apply the first layer of laquer. Wood for ages was around people to create homes, warmth or to decorate. I think it is almost exclusively seen as something very positive and in my pictures it constitutes an inviting familiarity although one might find something unexpected behind trusted facades. I focus on people and try to portrait them as they would tell me the truth about who they are and what they have experienced. Moments of honesty, situations of importance provocing questions, answers and all kind of interpretations I want to conserve and to present in a neutral and subtle way. Very often these stories are about me. Mostly I avoid titles or symbols explaining too much or directing the viewers to a certain interpretation. Always searching for ambivalent facial expressions or circumstances I want to prevent the possibility of a clear, an absolute, an objective way of explanation. One should just feel it as an impulse and refer to ones own character. For me it is very exciting how different the spectators respond to what they see. And when they oscillate between two different ways of reading, such like between play or danger, trustfull naivity or aware coquetry, pure satisfaction or existential boredom it is like they would be stuck between the two sides of a medal. Although the need to paint aroused at an early age I followed different ways till I became a full time artist. Getting in contact with the fascinating technique of marquetry happened by coincidence and like painting I taught myself by reading books, copying old masters and trusting in the method of try and error. Now I combine the traditional craftsmanship with contemporary acrylic painting trying to blur the line between wood and paint.