“Playing with Magritte in the spirit of Breughel” Print

Within the space of the canvas, I try to build a world that is undeniably my own. I transform the story born in my mind into fantastic realities or into abstract collages; dependent on my mood. I paint my reflections and feelings about the human condition and our relation to other elements of the world. I build a world that is unquestionably separate from the one we live in. It is an alternate reality, one that mixes painterly qualities with surrealism and fantasy. What happens in my secret world of the unconscious part of my brain passes through my conscious mind, determined through experience, knowledge and upbringing, which then filters and strains the data from my intimate world. What is left after these processes becomes the painted story. I begin with a plan in mind, and draw or paint a sketch according to the image in my brain. Gradually, I add more creatures and more details from fairy tales and childhood or adult culture. Then I notice suggestions from the figures or objects I have painted. For example in my two series: Phantasmagoria and the Return of Peter Pan, both of them refer to a combination of the lost world of our childhood and the nonsensical reality that surrounds us. We are working with persistence to develop new technologies, to make our lives easier but at the same time we destroy each other with ever increasing sophistication. We have created a kind of civilisation, but it is very primitive. In truth homo sapiens haven’t changed a great deal over the last 10,000 years. Wars, conflicts, exploitation, slavery, deceptions, envy, propaganda, jealousy and the all surrounding fear control our existence. For me, the creative process of making art is the only way to survive in this world. When I paint I escape into that alternate reality. Just like the people of Medieval times, who could not exist without the faith that was necessarily woven into every moment of their life, I cannot exist without fantasy and dreams. For me they are logically connected to the reality of our life. Almost all my work is iconoclastic and colourful. I love powerful colours, and I am neither afraid of it nor am I ashamed of it.