Alexa
Meershoek

to my art

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Most of my works are portraits, a personification of the guiding emotion, which, through the creative process, finds its way from the emotional world into the real world. A process of distancing oneself from a subjective to an objective level takes place. Colors and substance are means to an end, whereby the colors definitely influence the "objective" final product on the surface positively, even if only in an aesthetic way. I like the tension between colorfulness and darkness in the subject matter. Because just as there are dark moments in every life, it is always one's own task not to paint them black.

 

Since a canvas and a single color substance already offer infinite creative possibilities, any additional element merely hinders the creative process, which is why I primarily work with primary colors. In my approach, I consciously reject preliminary sketching; every outline brings with it a sense of confinement (limitation), and it is precisely here—in the creative process—that I seek to find freedom.

 

I find Matisse's words, that a sculptor is always a better painter because he can already recognize something in the white canvas—as in raw stone—and only needs to liberate it, very inspiring. Like a sculptor, I also try to use color to feel something that already exists in the painting in some way. I usually start with the left eye. The left side corresponds to the heart.