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ARTIST STATEMENT
Working
as a secretary in The Hague, I always had the feeling the purpose of my life
was unfulfilled.
I
gave up my career and apartment and left for the South of France. There I
worked at the chateau of a painter near Narbonne, France. I was fascinated
by the sacral atmosphere in the old villages and churches. Especially the
church in Beziers. There I realised that religion would become a part of my
life. It gave me great inner peace and a sense of direction I never felt
before. Back in the Netherlands I studied painting at the Royal Academy of
Arts in The Hague.
After I finished my study I left to travel throughout Europe. I lived and
worked in Vienna, Paris and Hamburg. I want to share these incredible
experiences with the world. Through my paintings I want to express that to
believe in yourself, to believe that love is the highest power in life, it
can make people do everything.
I want to show a part of my
inner world. My fantasies and realities, fears and hopes. The
symbolistic paintings are a stage of real life drama always with hope and
faith on the background.
Literature is also a great source of inspiration. Books of e.g. Tolstoy,
Louis Couperus, Gustave Flaubert bring me into worlds who appeal to me.
Writers who paint with words. In France I read the books of e.g.. Ernest
Hemmingway, Dunja Barnes, Arthur Rimbaud. They all left beautiful
souvenirs. I want my work to be a reflecting mirror of my
fascinations. Everything is memory. If the memories are beautiful, your
life has been beautiful. The paintings, sketches and collages are all
souvenirs, the collection is never ending, it takes a life time.
My paintings are mostly oil on canvas. I am very interested in classical
painting techniques such as oil, tempera and fresco.
Being in strange cities awakens a sense of nostalgia in me. In every city
you visit there is so much history, religion, literature character and
inspiration. It allows me to transit the beauty that is all over this world
and show this to the audience as well.
The collection ‘Voyage d’une femme is a reflection of me in the cities I
worked and lived. The Art Deco District of Miami Beach with the turquoise
blue of the Atlantic Ocean inspired me to make the serie “ Souvenir de
Paris, strangely enough. Coming from Europe to America I linked two cultures
together in this serie by combining the Art Deco Icon bottle of Chanel no. 5
(1920)and the art deco style of Miami.
The serie “Traces of Women” is inspired by women I met along the way.
Fascinating women like Anais Nin, Karen Blixen, and Emily Dickenson, who
left their traces for us to follow and to learn from.
I believe that kind of escalating transcultural migration will shape the
cultural identity of our global village.
Marjolein van der Sluis
Miami,
Oktober 2000
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