In the summer of 2002, I retired a few weeks in the forests of Ermelo, NL. There, a number of drawings and paintings I created around the topic "Forest and Trees" .
First it gave me the opportunity to ground me in the perception and observation drawing. On the other hand the isolation created for me the opportunity to develop a deeper soul observation to both my inner strength and the power of nature.
Later, this experience inspired me to make sculptures of twigs, found in Switzerland and Ermelo. The mystique of the forest and impermeability of the timber are central to these sculptures.
Timber, where all woodworkers with a wide berth should walk in these images is my work: Wood reminds us of our own mortality. decayed, filled Memel, worms, moss ... the strong smell of mold and fungi. An irreversible process completes itself. Life to life to life. The death which manifests itself in all its vibrancy. And I act in this cyclical process, the transience putting my hand.
The sculptures and reliefs are the result of "tree residues": some decayed tree trunks that I cleaned layer after layer to reach the matter is not affected. What remains is the basic material that I continue to edit autonomous artworks.
The uniqueness of the wood, the realization that this wood was once a tree and posed the mystique of the forest where the wood was found to play an important role in the development of these wood sculptures.
Relevant pages in this theme:
forest and trees (wood)
forest and trees (acrylic)
forest and trees (drawings)