2010

"Rainbow life"   Oil on canvas h83 x w103cm,   January 2010

From childhood to old age in one painting, with a life in between in all colours of the rainbow. The vertically accentuated stages of life have various gradations of colours. This time they are very cheerful, so it seems that the young boy has been dealt the right cards. The boy comes from a photograph taken by Paul Almasy in Ho Chi Minh City, called Saigon at the time, Vietnam.

"Beauty in a Barn"   Oil on 3-D canvas h70 x w90cm,   February 2010

This is not the fairy tale of a beautiful woman and an ugly beast, because the pig is both magnificent and cute. No creature is more beastly than man, however beautifully he (or she) may pose, and animals will have to grin and bear humankind. At first sight you may wonder how long it will be before the pig will be on the posh lady's plate, but on closer inspection this is not a pig in the biotechnology industry but rather one at a petting zoo. Boy, what a relief. The lady has been taken from a newspaper illustration by Yvonne Kroes.

"It Takes all Sorts, no. 9"   Oil on canvas h30 x w30cm,   March 2010

The young girl eating the chocolate ice cream is Rianne Frissen, the girlfriend of my youngest son Tei. She liked the little portrait I had done of Tei so much that she wanted her own done as well. Therefore she handed me a number of childhood photos, from which I picked the one with the ice cream.

"It Takes all Sorts, no. 10"   Oil on canvas h30 x w30cm,   April 2010

Believe it or not, but this negroid person is based on a photograph of the 100% white Dutch dancer Hans van Manen. I felt the lighting in the picture was so special that I wanted to try this on canvas, but then with a 'foreign' colouring to it.

"The Snapshot"   Oil on canvas h64 x w84cm,   May 2010

Many find it valuable to record important persons, things and moments on film. In the original photograph by the American Abigail Heyman (Magnum), a grandchild in a pram is being photographed. I have left the child out, so that the viewer can fill in for himself what these ladies are photographing.

"Saint Petersburg 1906"   Oil on canvas h83 x w103cm,   June 2010

El Pais once featured an item on the Russian Revolution of October 1917 with fantastic photographs. One of the photographs shows the four daughters of the last tsar Nicolas II. This 1906 photograph was taken in Peterhof, Peter the Great's complex of palaces and gardens south-west of Saint Petersburg. From left to right you see Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. In the night of 16 to 17 July 1918 the Romanovs were murdered: father Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, his son and heir Aleksey and the four daughters. I am trying to create a dreamy, melancholy atmosphere, in which the viewer does not know whether he is attracted to the girls or loathes them because they are so overprivileged or feels pity because of their future fate.

"It Takes all Sorts, no. 11"   Oil on canvas h30 x w30cm,   July 2010

These types also exist: ganstarappers with sun glasses and over-the-top golden chains. A drawing by Erik van Lieshout from de Volkskrant of 16 December 1999 led to this portrait.