here you can find some of the backgrounds that lead me to making a painting or drawing.
osama and the sea
based on the novel of ernest hemmingway, the old man and the sea. the figure's normal attributes are stripped, but he remains recognizable as osama bin laden. like the old man in hemminways novel, he is in a fight with what he has caught. in the book, the old man finally looses everything..
zeus and europe
based on the ancient greek saga about zeus and his mistress, the asian princess europe. disguised as a bull, zeus takes europe to somewhere on the mainland of our continent. the physical condition of the painted bull symbolizes the condition of de european union. the mirror walls invite to reflect on the situation. the rooster in the middle of the painting is reflected twice, so you see three of them; a reference to christian symbolism. two (former) government-leaders are like puppets in a puppet-theatre.
charles taylor
first living ex-gouvernment leader (liberia), who is convicted by an internation criminal court. taylor commited series of crimes against humanity, amongst which the charge of children for being soldiers in the war in sierra leone.
willem set free
after the release of hollands major criminal, willem holleeder, in 2012. holleeder is depicted as a hunter. the plant in the middle is a Heracleum mantegazzianum, a poisonous weed.
razan zaitouneh
the woman on the televisionscreen is libia's most important freedomfighter. she is constantly threatened to be killed by gouvernmenttroups. therefore she lives in anonymous places and moves every two or three days.
carolina hopper
the title of the painting is a combination of the name of an extinct parakeet in the us and one of the most wellknown realistic painters in the us of the midst of the past century, edward hopper. symbols refer to the time in which the parakeet was still abundantly prestent: a colt paterson from the 1880's; a painting of michael prendergast with a woman turning her back to the world; the sugar-pinetree, also (nearly) extinct in the us; a chippewa tomahawk. these aboriginal indians are nearly extinct too.
