C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S
C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S
This serie of drawings represents 10 drawings.
Inspiration for the drawings
For me, creating images is like the desire to sense the present in a direct way.In these special times, "Decamerone" came to mind. Telling stories in seclusion to pass the time.
I wondered how I would depict a world now that we are experiencing a similar situation.
The fact that your city was empty, where you felt the fear of the unknown in those early days.
The encounter: A strange creature at my doorstep
Prologue: the first drawing of the “C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S”
65 x 50 cm
Dip Pen, Bamboo Pen and Chinese Ink on Paper, 2020
In those early
days of the Lockdown in my
country I
was
even forbidden to sit on a bench outside as the
government were
freaking out and hallucinating
in reacting to the new situation.
So you understand my excitement when I hear some knocking at my
front-door.
This drawing
appeared on a
drawing site
and I got an online article written about this. It summarizes very
well what I want to achieve.
"The strange appearance at his front door is
reminiscent of a dog in the way he is lying down - he lies there
relaxed. But at the same time that relaxed creature is full of
dynamics, with lines that remind me of Saul Steinberg. The drawing is
full of music," is it a barrel organ, or is it the Trojan Horse?
The drawing holds my gaze, I can keep looking at it. "
Comment by illustrator and graphic journalist Eva Hilhorst from Drawing the Times (October 2020).
Equilibrium
Dip Pen, Bamboo Pen, Chinese ink on paper, 2021
Second drawing of the "C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S"
The
event that came over us and forced us into seclusion and consequence
our loss of freedom that is so dear to us.
A self-reflection in a delicate balance between
frustration and contemplation.
Chimaera
70 x 100 cm
Third drawing of the "C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S"
How
I had to bend over backwards to make the totally unknown situation,
the new way of life my own.
In
the end I obtained an absurd plural form so this drawing became
"Chimaera" and according to Greek mythology, the Chimaera
was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature.
Dream Sleep Encounter
The fourth drawing is about social gatherings, all banned during the pandemic.
This conventional scenery composition based on Renaissance drawings portrays people and figures. If you look closely, you can only discover streaks, lines, spots as nothing is defined like a dream memory.
Fallen
5th Drawing of the "C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S"
We
are not that immortal after all and who would have thought last year
in January 2020 that this was going to take such an extent.
I
used this idea as a starting point to depict this wounded fallen
soldier. The thick pen strokes as inflicting brutal wounds illustrate
the deep emotional and social impact the pandemic has on us.
But
as I said you think of a sort of fallen figure but actually when you
look close it are just lines and stripes.
Awakenings
Dip Pen, Bamboo Pen, Brush, Chinese Ink on Paper
It reminded me also of a romantic fantasy of a lonely person in the wild with nature as a metaphor for his psyche. As the German painter Caspar David Friedrich said: “The artist should not only paint what he sees before him, but also what he sees within him. If, however, he sees nothing within him, then he should also omit to paint that which he sees before him.”
Fusing
100 x 70 cm
Dip Pen, Bamboo Pen, Brush, Chinese Ink on Paper, 2021
7th drawing of the "C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S"
People together at a table, an everyday occurrence but forbidden during the COVID-19.
Usually you start with a composition, arrangement of the persons, etc. and then the abstraction follows. But I don't follow completely this method. I work from the opposite, almost from scratch. When I draw, I think about the subject first, but I don't draw according to the conventional methods of image construction. I start from an emotion by drawing lines that criss-cross each other and thus build up the image. I want the topic to reveal itself. In order not to work completely thin, I have also made preparatory sketches here.
The Yearning
100 x 70 cm
Dip Pen, Bamboo Pen, Brush, Chinese Ink on Paper, 2021
Eight drawing of the "C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S"
I love music and the lack of performances are hard to bear. Here I wanted to create a sense of community, which is easily achieved at a concert. The figures merge under the notes of the music. Strong together and at the same time very vulnerable.
Mountain of People
Ninth drawing of the "C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S"
As the COVID-19 rage continues, a group of people lie a mountain of people becomes a rare breed. I depicted it as a mountain alienated and cut-off in the landscape.
Disembodiment
Epilogue, 10th drawing of the "C.H.I.M.E.R.A.S"
The last drawing is about leaving the COVID-19 behind.
Many of us remember exactly where we were when we first realized COVID-19 was about to jarringly disrupt our lives. All this hotbed of emotions served as the starting point for this emotionally rugged work.