My artistic quest was inspired by the alchemist’s attempt to produce gold: a metaphor for creating something durable and valuable. This process of transmutation – with its noble intentions often obscured by (hermetic) symbols – still lies at the heart of my artistic practice.

As a playful creator I compose visual puzzles charged with wayward interpretations and subtle contradictions. This activityis my attempt to fully utilise and increase different skills through an equally intuitive, visual and reflective process. Just as if each image derives from playing an exciting tabletop game – with my own set of rules – each scene is documented from a specific viewpoint as an image. Tabula Rasa. 

A blank sheet of paper. A gesture. A design. For my project False Friends, I drew geometric line drawings and translated these into low relief collages cut from wood veneers. Photographed under directed light to cast shadows on its surface, these images were again transcribed as three-dimensional wooden sets and scenery for new (still life) compositions. Or vice versa. By reversing this process one could speak of falsifications.

The linguistic term 'false friends' refers to pairs of words in two languages that look or sound similar but differ significantly in meaning. The adjective 'false' also highlights intentional mistranslations and anomalies that contribute to the enigmatic and ambiguous goals of this project. Likewise, I play with language – often based upon the etymological origins – to title each work as an opaque formula for deciphering my decisions to bring objects together in a single composition. As a family portrait. Or a group of 'friends'.

Creating valuable substances also requires interesting ingredients. Since 2012, I have invited fellow artists to contribute an ‘inspirational object’ as an ingredient for my compositions. 150 international guests have contributed and are ‘present’ in my work by means of their material interventions.

Recently I learned to apply fine wood veneer, resulting in handmade marquetry pieces, objects and backdrops (for newimages), in-situ interventions and spatial installations. This evolution is triggered by my PhD-research on craftsmanship and an attempt to bring the apparent opposition between ‘thinking’ and ‘making’ closer together.