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. 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. Now I feel that a carefully selected part of my studio archive may slowly open.