About my work
The current work is based on a realistic representation of man and his environment, in which authenticity and truth are sought and at the same time their relevance is constantly questioned. In fact, it is not always about man as an object, but rather as a subject and as part of a certain social context. In fact, we humans always look at others and consciously and unconsciously seek the starting points for the dialogue with that other person. It is important that man is able to "read" the other in his or her intentions. That is sufficient reason for me to always place man in a certain framework and to leave the intention of the whole to the viewer. After all, we do that all day long.
With this, the focus of the work has shifted from man as an object of study and research, to man as part of a context, a story.
I am convinced that our way of perceiving and the way in which images and information reach us is always colored in one way or another and perhaps even flattered. Our world seems to be saturated with news and fake news, with facts and lies, with truth and fiction. This seems to influence our judgment to a great extent.
What we perceive is driven by our ideas about what we see, our judgments, our upbringing and our own culture. In this age where social media almost literally consumes us and sucks away our attention with an abundance of often irrelevant images, this means that we hardly have the time to really look, let alone to come to our own judgment without thinking about it or being influenced.
In previous works I have searched for a possibility to deliberately influence the pattern of expectation and perception and to lead the viewer in a direction of gaze that may not be his. Models, portraits, objects, after they have often been painted with great attention in a traditional way, are largely covered and painted over with a (usually red) transparent paint, except for a few lanes and fields. This places the objects to be observed in a completely different light, partly invalidates their existence and questions their image and relevance.
The more recent work generates more conversation and will hopefully evoke thoughts in the viewer, thoughts of all kinds.
Bart van Zweeden
The current work is based on a realistic representation of man and his environment, in which authenticity and truth are sought and at the same time their relevance is constantly questioned. In fact, it is not always about man as an object, but rather as a subject and as part of a certain social context. In fact, we humans always look at others and consciously and unconsciously seek the starting points for the dialogue with that other person. It is important that man is able to "read" the other in his or her intentions. That is sufficient reason for me to always place man in a certain framework and to leave the intention of the whole to the viewer. After all, we do that all day long.
With this, the focus of the work has shifted from man as an object of study and research, to man as part of a context, a story.
I am convinced that our way of perceiving and the way in which images and information reach us is always colored in one way or another and perhaps even flattered. Our world seems to be saturated with news and fake news, with facts and lies, with truth and fiction. This seems to influence our judgment to a great extent.
What we perceive is driven by our ideas about what we see, our judgments, our upbringing and our own culture. In this age where social media almost literally consumes us and sucks away our attention with an abundance of often irrelevant images, this means that we hardly have the time to really look, let alone to come to our own judgment without thinking about it or being influenced.
In previous works I have searched for a possibility to deliberately influence the pattern of expectation and perception and to lead the viewer in a direction of gaze that may not be his. Models, portraits, objects, after they have often been painted with great attention in a traditional way, are largely covered and painted over with a (usually red) transparent paint, except for a few lanes and fields. This places the objects to be observed in a completely different light, partly invalidates their existence and questions their image and relevance.
The more recent work generates more conversation and will hopefully evoke thoughts in the viewer, thoughts of all kinds.
Bart van Zweeden
