Sometimes I feel like I need to express big ideas and complicated concepts in my art. There are times when inspiration just hits and you want to dive deep in it. But other times, especially when I connect too much on what’s happening in the world, I have the feeling that the ideas are just too big and overwhelming. And seeing war, suffering and so much hardship happening in the world makes me question if any “big” idea I want to express is even worth it and what the point is anyway.
But I can’t just stop doing what I do. In times when life just gets too big and overwhelming, I strive to connect with the small things. The things that usually go unnoticed, which have no big meaning or role to play, just simple everyday things.
Somehow that focus on the small and understandable has a strong grounding effect for me. Those things are so understandable, comfortable and familiar that they take up a beauty and deep meaning of their own.
It’s my everyday life, my surroundings, my reality. Things that are really there, not just in my head. They don’t scream for my attention, don’t make me go down the rabbit hole of doubt and uncertainty, they just exist and define my day to day life, which, I’d say is just life itself.
The process of making these paintings always makes me feel better and later, just being surrounded by them reminds me of that warmth and grounding that I experienced in the process.