Sometimes kids (temporarily) come back to live with their parents again. Last weekend 3 of my
âkidsâ returned home. These drawings were sold in 2003 and 2006 and I hadnât seen them since.
It was actually nice to see them again.
The circumstances were less fun. The man that bought them in the past recently passed away,
there were no family members who showed interest in them and thatâs how they were
returned to me. Feels weirdâŚ
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Recently Iâve been listening to this podcast called The Unmistakable Creative. The people
that get interviewed are all some kind of creatives. For me the painters etc. are most
interesting but interviewer Srinivas Rao is really good at his job because heâs actually interested
in the answer to the questions heâs asking. So I got really addicted to listening to his podcast.
Different books have been promoted on this show and I got curious so I bought some of the
titles: âThe Crossroads of Should and Mustâ by Elle Luna, âSteal Like An Artistâ & âShow Your
Workâ by Austin Kleon and âThe War of Artâ by Steven Pressfield. All books were purchased at
the American Book Center Amsterdam.
Kleon, James Victore.
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The last couple of years Iâve been wondering a lot whether Iâm on the right track or not. Is my
work good enough (for what?), am I creative enough (in comparison to whom?), do I got
what it takes to make it in this business?
Very hard questions to answer or even think about. âNoâ scares me to death, or close to itâŚ
By now I do know that I could have done a lot more than I have done and Iâm working hard to
change that which is not always easy when recovering from a burn-out. I still want to do
more than my body will let me.
Yesterday for some reason everything came down from its shelves and I couldnât see
through all the mess. What should I do, where do I start, continue (whatever)?
After the initial panic I picked up my brush and still very confused I continued on one of the
drawings Iâm working on. With every brushstroke my mind relaxed and I felt the
mess on the floor of my brain getting back to its shelves. I never felt this process so clearly
happening and I continued to draw. Relaxing, becoming silent turned into certainty that I am
on the right track and I am doing what Iâm supposed to do: DRAW!
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Last week my boyfriend and I went to the Drents Museum in Assen, The Netherlands.
A year ago we went there too for the exhibition The Soviet Myth and this year the museum
managed to do an exhibition about North-Korean paintings: The Kim Utopia.
Without a doubt all paintings present are propaganda. Some were really beautiful and
detailed and others less so. I started wondering: is this art or craftsmanship? Are these artists
comfortable using oils? Do these artists enjoy what theyâre doing? Some paintings looked like
they were done fast, a bit sloppy and without much joy. It looked like something that had to
be done without trying to make it more bearable, which is strange to me.
Were some of these people bad painters or would they just rather finish and move on to
more enjoyable work? I donât know.
It was interesting to compare these paintings with their European counterparts. For instance,
when we take a painting like âThe Battle of Waterlooâ by Jan Willem Pieneman, 1824
(Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Netherlands) we see a lot happening. The main characters
faces are lit up and painted very detailed. The others less so and sometimes left in a sketchy
state which gives the painting depth even when itâs cluttered.
Not so with âDeath-defying protectors bound by the barrel of a gunâ by Kim Pong-nam (2002).
Again the main characters are very detailed but moving on to the rest of the painting the picture
is done in crude, thick brushstrokes. In itself quit nice but instead of working spacious itâs a
bit messy.
Also âThe Battle of Waterlooâ depicts a historical event while the North-Korean painting depicts a
battle that never happened and works purely as propaganda: the North-Korean army supporting
their leader no matter what.
Because we went to both Soviet and North-Korean exhibitions it was hard not to compare
the two. In my opinion the Soviet paintings had a look of artists doing their thing in a
communist world but still very much propaganda. Most of the North-Korean art
looked like craftsmenship being used to depict a world that doesnât exist.
Here are two youtube links (in Dutch) that allow to compare for yourself:
The Soviet Myth
The Kim Utopia
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The month of June is Classic Crime Month at the ABC. They asked me to paint two classic crime
fighters, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot (and a dead body). Hereâs the result.
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