Many of these paintings from the period 1994 until the present are about the more unpleasant sides of human existence. The subjects sometimes appear to be specific but, considered in a general sense, are often widely varied as to country and year.

There is a considerable amount of written information available about most of the subjects. This copious presence of the word represents one of the important features of the paintings. The visual power of the language and of letters and numbers is also a factor.
The base layers of the paintings often contain a continuous undercurrent of text, veined as it were from the subject. In the older paintings the text is usually scratched in and is still fairly legible. In later paintings the text is mostly painted, without interspacing and line intervals. Several layers of text are applied on top of one another and have also been treated in various ways, resulting in a fairly even and virtually illegible textual structure.

The subject is usually indicated on top of this textual structure by means of one or more clearly legible words. Considering the heaviness of the theme, these words on top of the agitated-looking layers underneath, are rendered unemotionally. All more detailed information has been omitted or presented in a way that is no longer legible. Those who are interested in the backgrounds of a particular painting are referred to the accompanying text with references (under the button ‘information’ next to the pictures on this site).

Various paintings feature tables, diagrams or indications of maps and charts. Tables and diagrams are usually used in order to present information in a concise and clear way. In the paintings they refer to this function, but at the same time are far removed from this customary, explicatory use as a result of their isolation from the original context and the omitting of a lot of information. With their specific forms and provision of words and numbers they are an important element of a lot of the paintings.

The use of colour is sober. Many of the paintings are more or less monochrome, with small nuances here and there. Also because of the detailedness of the paintings, it has been difficult to achieve a clear representation of them on the screen.

The heavy subjects, the intensive and detailed textual structure, the sparing use of colour, the often saturated colours and the fairly simple composition contribute to the creation of rather thoughtful images.

Most of the paintings have no figurative or realistic elements. The words and graphic representations employed and the manner of painting are often such that further visual elements are unnecessary.
The lack of figuration and realism in many of these paintings does not mean to say that this applies to my visual work as a whole. My drawings in particular also feature such themes as people, landscapes, urban and industrial areas and scientific processes, in addition to tables and diagrams.
Most of the drawings are independent works that are not linked to a particular painting.

This survey of paintings also includes a number of works that are a cross, as it were, between drawing and painting.

 

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