Uhmm … what is original?
Is digital art, when constructed from painted fragments of myself and other artists, for example cut pieces from well-known paintings, and processed into a “new” image. Is that then an original work?
When you save it on your own computer and give it a .jpg or .png file name, you can easily copy it. You can send it and always leave a duplicate. When ten people send your image via Whats’app or Messenger, it is already on 10 different devices. Then it has actually become an unlimited edition.
What I have as the “maker” of this image on my computer is the “source” image, right? If I have made it in a high resolution, I can make prints of it, whether or not in a certain edition. But someone who has received the file via social media can also print it. And sell without seeing anything in return.
There is so much nice / good work that I want to spend time with. I can then go to a museum or exhibition, but I can also take a photo of it or search the internet for a beautiful image and then use it as a common thread for my own work. I can then look for hours at how another artist has set up his or her work. It feels like I am getting into the skin of the other maker, a bit voyeuristic, you could say. I use the work of others as building blocks for my own work. I can play with the toys of others. I sample work from other artists and so find my own.
Living in the era of “Copy / Paste” makes me feel at home in painting all the Masters in Painting. Copy and Paint. I learn by looking through the hands of others.
When I was very young, my uncle urged me to paint Picasso and Van Gogh. I couldn’t do anything about it yet, I got lost in the brush strokes. Enchanted and with a head in the clouds I still try to catch them. Where at first I did not feel original, I use the imagery of others to write my own story. Instead of just using photos of loved ones, searching magazines and the internet, I also delve into the archive of artists that I find fascinating. I try to understand the work to become a better painter myself.
October 2018
As an artist, I think it is important to stand with both feet in the technological and digital developments of our time in order to transform them into 3D images with my hands in a traditional way. Virtual vs tangible.
Artists, musicians, basically all creative people give their lives with passion. They invest love and time to separate society, even though it is sometimes fleeting, from the daily reality and structures. They can hold up a mirror to you without you having the idea that you are looking into it.
Art does not condemn, art invites you to open your heart & eyes. To take a different look at the things you are used to. Or just to look at things that are different.
My interest is shifting.
That does not mean that I am no longer concerned with internal unrest and psychological instability. It was a sort of common thread or perhaps a motive for working. Maybe I have calmed down. Or do I have more overview. But it may also be that I want to spend less time in the dark rooms of my gut feelings.
Much of my work is actually about connection. That is perhaps a direct link with alienation, the common thread that I followed earlier. Alienation is perhaps the opposite of connection. 180 degree shift from focus point. I no longer want to emphasize what I feel uncomfortable with, but rather what I love. Getting started with my loved ones, my loved one and children. The things that matter, and what we do every day.
In my work I am also increasingly concerned with the digitization of society, and in which we seem to be increasingly losing our parallel self. Or do we get this virtual self with it? Will this dig / id take over our physical being in the future?
In my work I am also increasingly concerned with the digitization of society, and in which we seem to be increasingly losing our parallel self. Or do we get this virtual self with it? Will this dig / id take over our physical being in the future?
In my job.
For me it is important to be able to play and investigate. I want to become a better painter, but I don’t just want to paint. I want to make installations.
Everything is, in my eyes, inextricably linked. That is why my work, research and playing pleasure in making it cannot be tied to one medium. I want to experiment try things out. How do I model a face? Do I want to paint it or is it enough if it is only baked off? And when it is baked off, can it become part of an installation? Or do I want to paint it so that a 3D object leaves for the flat surface. To see what happens.
Can I literally add light to my work, and if I do, must it be exhibited in a dark room so that the work illuminates itself? Can I merge several fragments into one work without it becoming unreadable? By using different media it may seem as if I am shooting with air rifles around me hoping to hit something, but actually I am looking for unity. Can a work of art become its own ecosystem? And are people allowed to add or change things themselves without anything breaking? Is it bad if the work I make has to be maintained?
We Like Art:
(Feb 2016)
Rutger van der Tas graduated from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 2014, and shortly thereafter he made his debut in the museum when his painting ‘Holy G’ won the AVROTROS Art Van Gogh Competition by a heavyweight jury. The delicate double portrait of Van Gogh and Maria rightly stood out, a small gem that is hard to keep your eyes off.
For Rutger van der Tas (Lelystad, 1980), psychological and physical unrest are often the starting point for his paintings. We chose a selection of small but penetrating panels in the Van der Tas workshop. Characteristic is the fragmented stacked representation of the subjects and the smooth, somewhat nervous handwriting of the painter. Painting pleasure with a dark edge. We fall for its power on the square cm.
The painter talks about it in an interview with Meta van der Meijden:
You often combine two portraits together in one painting, why?
“I’m always looking for distortion. At first glance it is one portrait, but if you look further you will see more. I think many people have multiple characters in their heads that pop up at different times. It is an inner world that is turning outward. “
You find psychological unrest interesting.
“It is a motor for me to work with. The chaos with which you stand in life. “
Your own chaos?
“Certainly. I find it fascinating to see how people hide things. Everyone is bothered by something. Some suffer from such thoughts that they can no longer function in normal life. With most people you will not see it until someone is no longer able to work, touches the pills or is even taken. I find it interesting to see if I can grasp that unrest and paint. In addition to beauty, there is also pain in life, the two belong together. “
You can see that reflected in your paintings, soft colors and a bleak picture.
“I do not consciously explain that, it just arises. So many ordinary portraits are being shot and painted, I’m going one step further. “
It is great to show work by an artist here at We Like Art at the relative start of his career. The prices are still modest – exciting how Rutger van der Tas develops further in his work.
Van Gogh Price
(May 2015)
“The jury was unanimous, and really emphatically unanimous in the choice. For work, and here it comes: “Holy G” by Rutger van de Tas. “… ..
“We were very impressed, actually from different aspects of the work. On the one hand, it is very nicely layered in terms of paint layers, it is very richly painted. Very beautiful color choices that really make Van Gogh think. But on the other hand, it is also the layering about the motive, because Van Gogh early in his career was of course extremely religious. And we also think that is a very brave choice to combine that in a painting. So in that respect it is also a very intriguing painting, you want to look at it longer to discover that too, and we found that very exciting. ”
-Axel Rüger (director of the Van Gogh Museum), Sunday 17 May 2015, Award ceremony AVROTROS Van Gogh Competition (3700 entries).
