My favourite expression about art was once made by Bernard Shaw:
“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. “
The beauty, the passion, the forms in which art comes to you – even often without realising it – originates these sparks of positive energy, moments of enjoyment in your mind.
Whether its music, poetry, literature, painted or other visual arts they are here. It is my opinion that art is everywhere, it surrounds us in our daily live, often without realising it you can find art in the smallest things around you, sometimes even product design can be art without realising it. The designer has spent great efforts to produce something that is beautiful, that is there to inspire and to be used by you. You can take things to learn or to enjoy. For me whatever the art forms are, conscious or unconscious, aware to its viewer, they are an essential part of our ordinary lives. But nothing is greater than to be able to enjoy those moments, taking the time – however short it may be – to explore the beauty intended by its creator you are so much more able to treasure live. Would we all just listen a bit more to that unconscious brain we have, those first-moment impulses we have? Too often we continue to run without enjoyment.
I love to read, actually reading was my first real passion. My friends say I live in a library. In literature, I most admire the old Russian masters.
I have a great interest in psychoanalysis, dreams and things we can not explain very easily. That is why I started the page Art & the Unconscious Mind. It is a page about dreaming, reality, art and the influences they have on our unconsciousness. And actually, often it is the unconsciousness where these originate.
I have devoted myself to create art utilising mainly digital techniques because it allows me to capture everyday elements in a social or personal context. I try to make visuals that are appealing to the eye that are inspirational and trigger emotion. My poetry is different, however. You could consider me as an energetic and overall happy person but I have my dark moments… and it is those moments that I try to capture in my poems… Sadness and complex thoughts are an inspiration for me to write about.
“Dreams are necessary to life.”
Anais Nin
When I studied Italian Literature I had a strong focus on Magical Realism and Philosophy. It was because of my study that I left for Italy, where I lived in Rome, Verona and Naples. For me that was an unforgeable experience because of the historical architecture it was like living in a huge beautiful museum. Living there was one of the greatest periods in my life. After some time I decided to go and search for the Greek Gods.
So one day I just decided to take a boat to Piraeus and start to explore the Greek culture in the city of Athens. After this, I travelled on to Thessaloníki and then visited almost all of the Greek islands. As of today, I am still in love with the islands, their beauty and I learned what some of the great thinkers found there.
After my Odyssey I went back home to the Netherlands where I was faced with reality, meaning I had to start to make a living. As it so happened I started working in Public Relations. There I worked to represent several companies and among them was the brand Champagne, which still is my favourite drink.
In 2004 I set up my first own company and called it Passion for Paintings. My idea was to build a bridge between prints and contemporary art. I wanted to close the gap that existed between people that would ordinary buy posters and could not afford – or did not want to afford – to buy ‘real’ paintings. It was a great way to educate people and try to turn them into art lovers. The next logical step for me was to create a platform to help promote contemporary artists. PassionofArt.com is an online art gallery where artists can exhibit their works on the Internet.
I have made so many albums of all the things I love in my life, that at a certain point I thought it would be a good idea to share this with people who are interested in the same things and here it is…
