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| ZAANDAM: Melancholic and mystical that's what the 42 year old creative artist Chriz van Jaarsveld calls his artwork. As a guitarist of different bands he has travelled to France, Japan, England, America, Canada and Israel. In october 1998 he quit this nomadic, mainly musical, existence. Since then he has devoded himself to painting. His colorful work is to be seen untill the 8th of August in cafe Batavia te Wormerveer. |
Foto : Bart Homburg |
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Millennium |
See, this painting, "Millennium" was still wet when I put it up here. At this moment it's one of my favorite pieces. That's often the case with work that I completed last. I didn't come up with the title beforehand. They just arise while I'm working on a painting, as do the shapes. At a certain moment I just know it needs a round shape somewhere, or a head or an animal. That's dictated by your subconcsious or by something from a higher level. While I am painting I am also very curious to see how a painting develops. For example that diver helmet in the corner or that fishbowl over there could just as well have been a ball. As long as it were round shapes. In the end the head in the middle turned out to be a jesus-like figure. That has to do with the millennium feeling. Just like the UFO- and alien like shapes. Nostradamus predicted UFO's landing on earth in the year 2000. |
| MELANCHOLIC: On the face of this Jesus-figure is a hole in place of his right eye. I like that, but i'm well aware that a lot of people will feel an aversion to that. Because of the way I paint, combining strong notes with vague fragmentations, I try to show the beauty of sadness, melancholy or doom and try that way to vaporize any feeling of rejection people might have while looking at my work and to show them the beauty of ugliness. I call my work melancholic and mystical at the same time. My paintings are a repercussion of my state of mind. They form some sort of a diary and are filled with symbols which are partly hidden in the painting. Some shapes are painted in such a vague way that they will only be noticed in time. | |
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Rainbow bridge |
Sometimes I test it on friends. If they see everything immediately then the painting is not right and do I have to work more on fading parts out. I still try to surprise people even after a long time. However, I do want to preserve a certain form of playfulness. Too many times the reaction to a painting is way too heavy and people will look for any significance that isn't there. I leave a lot to the imagination of the spectator. Personally I take my work seriously, in fact, art is the only thing I take seriously, but not this semi-intellectual rumble around it. Everything revolves around the effects and the emotions a painting can give. |
| ERWIN MUSPER: A couple of years ago, three of my paintings were used for the cd cover of the band Jetland. That cover was noticed by music producer Erwin Musper, known for his work with Van Halen, David Bowie, Scorpions and the soundtrack of the movie Twister. He wanted to buy one of these paintings called "Rainbowbridge". I didn't want that because I thought if that album becomes a succes it would increase the value of this painting. Some time ago I spoke with him again and he invited me to his mansion in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, to personally create a painting for him. That was done last April. I created a large piece called "Journey through the Violet and Blue", a painting with lots of fish, dolphins and nymphs, inspired by the ocean. Another admirer of my work is Willem van Kooten alias Joost den Draayer. He added three paintings to his collection. He also likes the stories I write. They are not published but he read the manuscripts. He found them quite unique in the way of never done before. I think that's a big compliment from such a prominent Dutch person. He suggested that I could film the story's because that's one of the things I do aswell, but I'm not going to do that right now. Painting is at the moment one of the most important things in my life. A day without painting is almost like a day I have not lived. |
