|
WILLEM VERBURG
°1967, Mijdrecht, Nederland
After a year of Psychopolis,
The Hague, the Amsterdam Academy of Arts was my new haven
for the coming 4 years. I learned a lot about how not to approach
the arts and it took me until 1994 to refind myself and the
pleasure I used to have creating. Here Denise and I met.
Entering the world of comics
in 1993 was one of my main feelings of rebirth. For a magazine
called POSSE I started to do things for fun and to
spill my guts again.
This feeling was from now also the way I looked upon the arts,
clear communicative images in no particular style.
An art tour including the
work of Denise and I through the United States inspired me
to feel less dedicated to one discipline. Illustration, sculpture,
writing and painting, it all became the same discipline to
me.
I worked with poems, my daughter, collage and any interesting
pieces of information in general.
For Drum'n'Bass parties I
started to do decors and flyers to announce parties. My work
being rather loud attracted various clothesbrands and I was
asked to do numerous outings. Amongst them: t-shirt designs,
murals, paintings on floors, flags, etc. Still do, now Cottonfield
and Art 4 Use are the main brands.
In between I continued writing
and drawing comics, for a while I was capable to do all these
things together, lately I’ve focussed on painting again
and an occasional flyer design. My recent work is an attempt
to give painting the same communicative power as the writing
on the walls, billboard-like screams and political propaganda.
From wood I made fences, boards from driftwood assembled as
painting surfaces.
As a working theme an old
poem haunts me: in short, males have to act like brave soldiers,
women are the lovely-looking dolls. The role pattern limited
to cartoons, alike advertisement and the other media.
These paintings called "Fences" are an attempt of
shielding against the black and white world of good and evil.
I try to depict the horror and beauty of cliches, alarming
people for the process we are all part of. I hope for variety
and individual freedom.
Since 1997 Denise Jansen
and I are Plusminus Produkties.
We are a "cut and paste" duo, that works in a quite
comparable style with different qualities.
Denise works with a clean neatness and strives for perfection
working solely on canvas, Willem is after speed and combinations
that surprise, and works on any material, the results of both
are of the same language.
Paradoxes in their work made a correspondent remark "sugar
coated horror", about their art, this is close to how
they experience it themselves. Denise works with a photo-perfect
image and collage is a means to an end, slowly the computer
moves in.
These artists collaberate
a lot and occasionally work on a piece together.
www.plusminusprodukties.nl
|
