Titel: Soil # 1 ( serie Ground ) 

Titel: Soil # 1 ( serie Ground )

Materiaal: Aquarel, Japanse brushpen, potlood op Canson Montval Fin aquarelpapier.

Afmeting: 30/20 cm

Jaar: 2023

Gesigneerd en gestempeld aan de achterzijde. 

SOLD

     Ruud Starke 

Power, human relations, vulnerability, (male)domination, guild, abuse, nature and culture are central themes in my work. It all comes together in the Japanese expression Honne and Tatemae. What do we show, who do we like to be and what do we show what we really are.

Nature, humanity and the way we deal with it : how we deal with natural processes and try to control and cultivate our daily life. To bend nature into culture.

Everything has to be classified, categorized, menageable and to be controlled/checked. We cultivate natural processes, turn fluid into a solid, stiff and unbreakable material and ideas with no space to grow outside  lines and develop and explore new ways. And all of this makes us in what we are or what we want to be.

The watercolor paintings I made in the serie " Natura" are inspired( and different from the oilpaintings) by natural forms and colors I came across at travels, at the beach and dunes, in woods, parks and gardens. In my oil paintings I use natural forms as well. There they confront with/stand opposite to industrial forms and materials, but in these watercolor paintings I isolate form and color to its essence and purity. I search for softness and vulnerability by using watercolor paint. The colors are exposed to weather, place, light and natural circumstances.

Sand, stones, growth, decay, light and air are recurring elements in my paintings.

 The watercolor paintings I made in the serie "Septic" are inspired by the time I nearly died of a septic shock in 2020. It reflects memories, fear, luck, love, caring, confusion, awareness of finitude, helplessness, being hospitalized, hope and life.The whole Corona period is intertwined with this experience. 

The bottles refer to medicine, water, urine and life. I consider these paintings as self-portraits.   

In 2021 I started with the serie "Honne/Tatemae". A serie of paintings ( oil and watercolor) about what we show from the outside of ourselves and what we really are. Power, vunerability, relations, domination, abuse, exploitation of women and guild play a central role in these paintings.

I consider my work as a comment on the human condition. War, exploitation of women, abuse of power, how we create our lives etc. I want to communicate and I want people to think for themselves and stand up against injustice. 

Now I have bundled everything in a self-portrait. The way I search for answers, clues, insights and knowledge. What is my Honne-Tatemae. Which lights will bring me home. 

I try tot reflect on myself and the world around me in the hope to get myself known.

Honne/Tatemae, een Japans antagonistisch begrip: Wat laten we van onszelf zien en wie zijn we in werkelijkheid.

(on)Macht, onderdrukking, (on)schuld, kwetsbaarheid, agressie en tegenstellingen zijn elementen die ik probeer te onderzoeken om de chaos in mijn eigen hoofd te reguleren en te ordenen. Wat laat ik zien en wie ben ik in werkelijkheid. Een zelfportret, een zoektocht naar mijn innerlijk huis.

   

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