My paintings and spraypaintings

(image above: Part of Serious Man – spraypaint and stencil)

UPPER PLAYGROUND

THE ART OF PLAY & THE FREEDOM TO CREATE WITH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE

1 – 24 February 2024: EXHIBITION OF MY PAINTINGS AND UP-CYCLED JEWELLERY & BAGS

From the 1st until the 24nd of February 2024 around 10 of my paintings and my UP-cycled jewellery, bags and belts will be exhibited in Galerie DNA in Het Bergkwartier in Deventer, Holland: https://www.galeriedna.nl/expositie-agenda. It’s a selection of my collage-art, my spraypaintings and acrylic abstracts.

Below you can see the paintings that will be for show. If you are interested in seeing the paintings, visit the galerie in Deventer between the 1st and the 24th of Feb. I’ll be there for a Meet & Greet at 10 February from 14:00 to 16:00 o’clock.

Girl on a Pedestal –
60 x 50 x 2 cm – € 600

UPPER PLAYGROUND – MY WORK AS A PAINTER, SPRAYPAINTER, AND COLLAGE ARTIST

Having worked for years as a freelance marketeer, publicity manager and event-organiser for authors and publishers, I decided a few years ago to focus more on my work as an artist.
Since then I’ve been creating almost daily. My art consists mostly of collage art and stencil art; acrylic portraits and distorted faces; abstract paintings and abstract graff; designing and creating ‘UP-cycle pieces’.

UPPER PLAYGROUND – COLLAGE ART AND STENCIL ART

In my collage and stencil art I experiment with a combination of text and images, self-written slogans/lyrics/poems, eyes/noses/ears/mouths from glossies, strange images and pieces of text from magazines, leftover paint, screws and bolts, etc. I combine them with acrylic paint, spray paint, posca markers, stencils and wasco chalk.

Here’s a selection of my collage and stencil works:

UPPER PLAYGROUND – ACRYLIC PORTRETS AND DISTORTED FACES

My acrylic portraits and distorted faces on canvas. I’m painting quite a lot of portraits now-a-days. I start out with a rough sketch on the canvas using wasco pencil and then put layer over layer of acryl paint on top of each-other, sometimes using a paintknive. Until it is … finished, which it never really is. I also call them My Distorted Faces because they are a bit crazy sometimes.

Here’s a selection of my acrylic portraits and distorted faces:

UPPER PLAYGROUND – ABSTRACTS AND ABSTRACT GRAFFS

A few years ago I started experimenting with abstract paintings on bigger canvasses (100 cm and bigger) with spraypaint, acrylpaint, posca markers, wasco. Wonderful way to experiment with paint-knives, dripping tools, different use of my brushes and all sorts of paint. Influenced by spraypainters, graffity artists and by artists like Rothko, Antoni Tapies, Günter Uecker and Pierre Soulages.

Here is a selection:

UPPER PLAYGROUND – MY SPRAYPAINTINGS

I love streetart, stencil-art, tags and graffiti art. About 10 years ago, I started out using spraypaint on paper and later on canvas, still being a bit shy for trying it out in the streets. I used to visit an amazing spraypaint shop in Amsterdam, Henxs, just to look at their amazing collection of spraypaint cans and posca markers, their books on streetart and their skateboard clothes. Never failed to make me happy. My favourite shops have always been the ones that combine (street)art, books, music (preferably with someone behind a turntable) , graphic novels, vinyl art and skateboard fashion and accessories. That’s where the edge of the groove is. Anywhere in the world.

One day I just asked the guy behind the counter of Henxs to set me up with a starter-kit for spraypainting. He gave me some tips on how to spraypaint at home (water basis), some sjablones to try out, and six colours of spraypaint. And I was lost. For a year I spraypainted and spraypainted and spraypainted. Trying out different materials, from different sorts and colours of paper, like crazy rolls of wallpaper, Japanese paper, sandpaper, sun bleach-paper, carbon paper, and fabrics, boxes, vinyl art poppets, and of course canvas and canvas board.

I design my stencils and sjablones with acrylpaint and Posca marker. First I try out different designs on paper, then I create a stencil from plastic and start experimenting with the design for a while with spraypaint. I now often use those designs again as a base for my canvas acrylpaint portraits and my collage art.

Click on the links below to see some of my older series of spraypaintings:
Andy Warhol, Clint Eastwood, Salvador Dali, Miles Davis and Frida Kahlo, ‘Faces’, ‘Serious Man’, ‘Skull Art‘, ‘Gorillaz‘, ‘Self Portret‘.

See here a selection of my works where I used spraypaint:

UPPER PLAYGROUND – DUALITY AND MY BIG FOOTS

Duality is a theme that keeps on reappearing in my paintings. Two (or more) faces in the same body, male/female, female/male, male/male, female/female.

I love my Bigfoot paintings. In the beginning they were a combination of scraps of magazines, acrylpaint and Posca marker. A bit Poparty. The Bigfoot now reappears in all kinds of paintings. The themes of my blue Big Foot paintings are duality, enlightenment, freedom and equality.

UPPER PLAYGROUND – MY MONSTERS

My Petits Little Monstres, yes ok, everyone does them, but I love them just the same. I use acrylpaint, spraypaint, poscamarker and wasco.

To be totally clear, they are not really monsters who try to scare us, but it is actually the other way around: they are little birds scared shitless by something (by us?).

My petit little monstre -Spraypaint, acrylpaint and Posca marker on canvas

Below you see some link-images to posts I created.

‘Thinking about you’

Drawings, spraypaintings and paintings of my new design ‘Thinking about you’ – spraypaint, acrylpaint, Posca marker, charcoal, wasco stick. Based on a pencil drawing from 2008 of Tilda Swinton.

Le Penseur

I started experimenting with this design in January 2021. First in pencil and Posca marker. Now often mixing Posca with acrylpaint, spraypaint and wasco sticks.

New Catawiki auction of two of my Andy Warhol paintings

Coming week two of my Andy Warhol paintings are on auction on Catawiki! It’s SPACING OUT WITH WARHOL #7 and #8. The Popart-Auction will end Saturday Night the 2nd of January! See link here. ?

And click here for more Andy Warhol paintings, spraypaintings and stencil-paintings.

Catawiki auction of two of my Andy Warhol paintings

This week two of my Andy Warhol paintings are on auction on Catawiki! It’s WARHOL IN DEEP and STENCILED WARHOLE. The Popart Auction will end Thursday Night the 10th of December! See link here. ?

And click here for more Andy Warhol paintings, spraypaintings and stencil-paintings.

New painting I just finished – ‘Canvas Porn’

Acrylpaint-marker on paper

Frida Kahlo popart spraypainting

Here are a few of my popart spraypaintings of Frida Kahlo.

My own designed alphabet

My Frida Kahlo spraypaintings

I made my design of Frida Kahlo as an acryl-painting in black and white, turned it into a spraypaint-stencil, and then started experimenting with it. Later on I used the design for my acryl paintings on canvas.

My original acrylpainting of Frida Kahlo

2022 – Acrylpaint and Posca marker on canvas