Some notes from the green late shelter

22.10.2020 0 Tykkää 0 kommenttia Val Smets

— April

 I moved to Home less than two weeks ago. Now I’ve transformed the space into a new playground. Mr. Living room is dressed up in plastic protection, Mrs. Kitchen cooperates and shares the sink with these cricket bats dipped with the brush…

While we are all struggling with social distancing and self-isolation, I personally believe that Imaginary Friends can help us deal with loneliness, boost our creativity, and adapt ourselves to the ever-changing environment: I’ve caught myself speaking with the parrot painted on my Canvas. 

I often use the word “playground” when I speak about my studio: let my imagination running wild and be totally involved with the physicality of the art while I’m painting every new large-scale painting on the floor. 

At the beginning of the confinement, my first reaction was to pick up all my material back home and transformed my apartment into an art space. 

Since then, I have observed my way of painting change and adapt. There are new rules. Painting has become a private action and reflection; nobody is watching. The studio represents a public space; everyone is watching. But it is a trade-off – my new-found seclusion comes with restricted movements. Where my gestures were free and uninhibited in the spacious studio, I now find myself limited and cautious in my isolation.

But this feels like growth; it is a cleaner way of working. Actions are more precise, colors are more controlled. My flat cartoonish characters are developing in substance and becoming more solid, more 3-dimensional.  An aspect of being fully engaged in the painting process is adopting different techniques and embracing new discoveries as they present themselves.

I like to create imaginary dreamlike words to make us look at familiar things with fresh eyes. There is place for stimulation, socialisation excitement and joy