I am interested in portraiture in the broadest sense of the word.
I am fascinated by thoughts and theories about character and personality and
how people through time have tried to read and interpret the faces of other
people.
In recent years I have been working on series of portrait, character and figure
studies based on drawings by other artists.
I am particularly interested in the artists' perceptions of people and the
images created from these perceptions. What was it these artists saw that
allowed them to make this work of art? How is it to look through the eyes
of an artist; how is it to be an artist? By using the work of other artists
I have defined and redefined my own approach of making art.
By using this approach I do not intend to copy the work of other artists, but to interpret it and make it my own. I am seeking tension between my work, the new piece I make and the work of art that I am working from. The works I make are independent, but they refer to the other works of art. They are unbound and bound simultaneously. For me they are orientation, reference and a challenge at the same time.
In my latest works I open up this approach more and more. Themes which used to be subthemes in earlier series, like variations in expression or the expression of strong emotions, get more space in this new body of work.
My starting point is no longer studying the works of one artist at the time
in a series of works, but the exploration of a theme for example, the expression
of strong emotion. I am using images from different sources, picking and sampling
freely from gestures and expressions within the theme, collecting and investigating
combinations to make a new work of art. This way of working is somewhat more
intuitive than the previousmethod.
I am moving towards finding out new facets of my long term investigation of
my own motivations and preoccupations as an artist.
In recent years I have worked on several series:
• Albrecht Dürer, who was very interested in human proportions and made many studies on this subject. These drawings are collected in the ‘Dresden Sketchbook’ of 1528.
• J.H. Lips was an artist who worked in commission for J.C.Lavater (1741 - 1801) an 18th century Swiss theologian who wrote a book on Physiognomy, that became famous during that period. Physiognomy is the “art” of reading faces.
• The Fayoum series are based on ancient portraits painted in wax which were found in the Egyptian oasis of Fayoum. These are the first known ‘real’ portraits.
• The Self-portrait series: with the help of selfportraits by the Dutch contemporary artist Philip Akkerman and the Austrian artist Egon Schiele, I have studied the different styles and approaches these artists use in there work.
• The Physiognomy series, based upon pictures in a book on physiognomy 'Geheimniss der Menschenform' (The secrets of the human form) by the German authors Bürger and Nöttling, 1958.
These authors believe that the face is the mirror of the soul; they also believe
in their own infallabillity. Without reflection on this starting point the
authors make statements such as: "a thin upperlip shows a harsh and strong
nature". The authors believe in their own clairvoyant ability to read
faces and illustrate this fascinating book with hundreds of pictures of ordinairy
and less ordinary people.
To me this series is about prejudice. I used the pictures from this book and
sculpted the people as vividly as possible: ordinary people you meet every
day in the streets. The texts from the book I place under the work without
any comment.
Through the ages people have tried to reveal and understand the character and intents of other people. Theories from these attempts have been linked to facial features and have been catagorized and interpreted to know the other, or to improve, understand or predict the other.
A number of people have played a role in the making of these theories.
Aristotle compared humans with animals. You are brave as a lion or scared as a chicken. 17th Century artist Charles le Brun (1619-1690) made some wonderfull and astonishing drawing on this subject.
Swiss theolog J.C. Lavater wrote a book on physiognomy, the art of reading faces. (Essays on Physiognomy: designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind, 1789)
He thought that a high forehead implied high intelligence and a powerfull nose a powerfull will. Lavater thought that you could improve people once you could read their faces. J.H. Lips was the artist who illustrated this book with many illustrations.
Joseph Gall (1758-1828) had a quite innocent theory, phrenology, on to which the skull is devided into specified areas which would represent the mental faculties of the brain.
Cesare Lombroso brought to the late nineteenth century his theories of the relation between the features of the face and criminal psychopathology. With his criminal profiles he thought one could recognize a criminal for his elaborate eyebrows or his heavy jaw.
Within these theories there are interesting and horrifying links with ideas about race and gender at the start of the twentieth century and the cruelties performed by Nazi Germany.
In my work I contemplate on these ideas and theories, in the sense that I offer a critical reflection on the thoughts about character and identity.
