Studies, First Gestures and the Studio Archive
Studies often appear quickly.
Not because they are less important, but because they sit closer to the first impulse. Before the image has been explained. Before the work has found its final skin. Before I start thinking too much about what it might become.
A study can hold something very direct. A line, a rhythm, a figure, a trace of looking. Sometimes it is only a few marks on paper. Sometimes it becomes a small world of its own. A study can focus on one subject, one gesture or one specific investigation.
For me, studies are not only preparations. They are part of the practice itself.
The First Gesture
— The first gesture is often the most honest one.
With charcoal, paper, ink or a loose brushstroke, I look and respond almost at the same time. There is not much distance yet between seeing, feeling and making. My hand moves before the image is fully understood. That may sound philosophical, and perhaps it is.
That is why I love working with fast lines and raw materials. Charcoal does not hide much. It leaves dust, pressure, hesitation and force. This material is really my thing. I often end up covered in it when I work with it. My fingers and hands take part. I go all in.
Charcoal is wonderfully expressive, but at the same time full of softness.
In these first gestures, I am not searching for perfection. I am searching for presence.
A figure may appear. A landscape may open. A shape may become almost animal, almost human, almost something else. Sometimes the study is still unclear, but already alive. Therefore, I try not to close it too soon.
When a Study Becomes a Work
Not every study needs to become a painting.
Sometimes the first version is already the strongest. Because the line is still searching. Because the material still speaks raw. Because you can see where the hand hesitated, pushed, wiped or suddenly found something.
I do not always want to work that away.
A study can become the basis for a larger work, but sometimes it is right precisely because it remains small, open and direct. Then it is no longer a step in between, but a work in itself.
Opening the Studio Archive
Over the past years, many studies, works on paper and small material investigations have stayed close to me in the studio.
Some were kept in folders. Some leaned against walls. Some moved with me from one table to another, still carrying the energy of a certain period, a certain question, a certain gesture.
Now I feel that a carefully selected part of my studio archive may slowly open.
A selection
Not everything. Not all at once. But a considered selection of original studies, works on paper and selected fine art prints will become available. The prints will be offered online. In addition, there will be special open studio moments, where part of the archive can be seen in real life.
That feels like the right way to share this work.
An opening
Not as a large sale, but as an opening. A way to let certain pieces leave the studio, while still keeping the place they came from present.
Would you like to be notified when the first selection opens?
Collecting a Study.
To collect a study is to collect a more intimate trace of the practice.
It stands close to the hand. Close to the first thought. Close to the moment before a work takes on a more defined form.
A study often carries the visible search. The unfinished edge. The tension between control and instinct. Because of that, it can feel very personal. It shows something of the making process that can become less directly visible in a larger painting.
And that is exactly what I do not want to lose.
Perhaps that, too, is a study in itself: exploring how openness, material and first impulse can remain visible, even when a work continues to grow.
For collectors, this can be a beautiful way to get to know the work.
Not every work needs to be a large canvas. Not every work needs to belong to a complete series. Some pieces stand quietly on their own. They are studies, but also works. Small openings into the larger world of the studio.
A selected part of my studio archive will become available soon: original studies, works on paper and selected fine art prints.
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Fairy tale land
€ 110,00 -
Perspective – painting
€ 850,00 -
Blush – painting
€ 220,00 -
Lou in the morning – drawing
€ 110,00