No Money - No Honey

CHOSEN LIMITATION
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THE ARTIST has to turn the world upside down. He has to reverse life and
explain death. The artist has to step in where everybody else falls short. As
when the brain scientist tries to interpret love as a mental illness. A condition
of unbalance. The overproduction of adrenalin and happiness endorphins. A
psychosis or loss of self-control. Or when your banker tries to explain to you
the value of sense and moderation. When that happens, it is necessary for
the artist to step in. With words, colours and actions that define heaven. The
immaterial. Feelings. The basic components of the delightful dizziness you long
for. The scent of the air that keeps you going…
Love is actually a really good example. It is obviously impossible to define
scientifically. Love is most easily described and felt in a simple pop song. That
is just the way it is. The artist knows that the colour of love is red. Or yellow
or blue. Or green. He can’t prove it. He just knows it. And you know that he
is right.
All of this means that in principle, the artist can do what he wants. He has an
enormous freedom to act. Which can be quite frightening. And that is exactly
why it makes sense to have some dogmas for my artistic work. If the field is
chalked a bit too narrowly, it is easier to explore things into depth. I think
many artists have gained that experience. And this is where the woman gets
into the picture. She is the frame of my artistic explorations. My chosen limitation.
My space. My entrance. I constantly feel that I am moving deeper and
deeper into something central when I paint these faces. It is in the face of the
woman that I find the gateway to what I want to explore. The soul lives in that
face, and it is the soul that I want to explore.
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WOMAN WITH HAT · 2016 · PAPER SIZE 75 X 105 CM