| I was born in the Netherlands, where my grandfather was minister at the home office in the 1950s. After my parents’ separation, we were rejected and disinherited by that branch of the family. I grew up afterwards questioning money and power.
After graduating from an Art school in Amsterdam, I began to mix with a group of radical left. I became drummer for an underground band of punk, “The Ex”, while creating illustrations for some politically radical magazines.
I traveled around for a while, before relocating in Paris to follow art courses at the Louvre and learn the ancient masters technique of glacis with oils. As I needed to earn a living, I also worked as a receptionist at professional fairs, for such large businesses as Renault, Alcatel, etc. I felt out of place in that world, and I studied it deeply to try and understand it better.
In 1993, I moved to Burgundy and decided to devote myself entirely to painting. I met an Arabian agent, and this allowed me to be commissioned to paint hyper-realistic portraits of Saudi-Arabian Sheiks. At the same time, I produced a series of more personal canvasses that already depicted men in suits and ties.
All of this eventually led me to the “businessmen” theme, a generic title for upcoming series, where typical attitudes of this class of society would be represented. These paintings were 200 cm high by 90 cm wide (~79x35 in), the size of a door, and done in thick oils.
I gradually gave up on this technique and settled on one close to silk-screen painting, which uses a mix of layering and erasure. I also switched from the standard canvas on frame to sheets of MDF or PVC of an industrial size (244 x 122 cm). The proportions and dimensions of this format are evocative of a cinema screen; they also allow me to subdivide the paintings into fitting squares.
I gather photographic documentation at business or political meetings and outings. These photos are classified and then digitally manipulated to create a new universe, new situations. |