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After studying Photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in
The Hague, Holland, Saskia (now 28) started travelling and
working abroad. Amongst jobs, she’s been a holiday
representative for various Dutch tour operators, a tour guide,
bar staff and a supermarket cashier.
Her current job is translator and Public Relations for a medical
centre on Majorca, Spain. She also works as a freelance
photographer and painter. |
22/02/´09
Interview with the artist about her paintings
Why do you paint figurative?
Well, err, not
that I don’t like modern (abstract) art, but it’s not that I really
like it, either…you know? Some things are cool, but at some point I get
bored with it. It’s always a bit of a fight between being experimental and
innovative, and making something that’s simply nice to look at. I don’t want to
put myself down when I say that I often choose the `hang able´ over some vague
artistic thing that just looks horrible over the kitchen table.
Personally, I
admire a well-done classic painting technique. Art as I see it exists of a
technically excellent foundation on one hand, and personal imagination and the
ability to express that on the other hand. Unfortunately in modern art I often
only see that last component. I think there’s few artists of my age that have
(or show!) a classic drawing education. To some of them I’d sometimes like to
say: I love your ideas, but why don’t you go and draw fruit baskets for a couple
of days first. In that way you’ll be gaining quality.
I would never
accept money for something that is just badly drawn. But hey that’s another
story…
Which artists you consider your Great Examples?
Yes, well,
that’s a rather insipid question. I think U2´s a great band, but if `One´ comes
on the radio for the thousandths’ time, I tune over to the next channel. What
I’m trying to say is that the list of great artists would be very long.
When I reach a
point where I just don’t know, I go to a random museum and have a look at
whatever’s there. Most of the times, I don’t even have to find something
beautiful to get inspiration anyway. I have that with Miguel Barceló, for
example. It’s not my style, I’m awfully jealous of his ridiculous salary, and
still it has something!
Okay then, I’ll
shout some big names: Toulouse-Lautrec, Dalí, Rosseló, Gaudí, Camarasa, Degas,
Mucha, Hopper, Klimt, Monet, Vermeer, Van der Elsken, Willink. People often ask
in which category or current to put my work. For me that’s hard to say, but if
you look at the list with names, I would say it has elements of impressionism,
expressionism, symbolism, magic realism, art nouveaux and naïve art. I put Van
der Elsken (Dutch photographer) in there because I still work a lot with
photography behind the scenes. When making compositions, I often automatically
make a cut out, just like you do when making a picture. Internet is fabulous if
you need to find an image on a subject, because in painting, one of the most
important things is watching and observing to get a good result. Sometimes
before even touching a brush, I’m already busy looking at photos for 3 hours.
What would you like to improve about your own work?
What I would
like (and should!) profound, is having my own style. So that people will say,
look, that’s a Saskia de Wit. At this moment all is a bit mixed up. Like, make
up your mind; landscapes, portraits, something symbolic…what do you want?!
I did agree
with myself that this is not going to be some sort of factory. I’ll make only
whatever I like and care about. Of course I have to think about the commercial
side, but not for the sake of anything.
And that’s a
luxury, d´you know that!
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