Artists:		Maarten Welbergen
Techniques:		oil paint
Date of exhibition:		October 17 - November 9, 2003

Imagine the world as flat as a map. We see two circles filled with land, oceans and mountains, with or without the pathetic dotted lines of our borders. But other projections are also possible. What to think about conical, orthographical or a Mercator projection? This sort of perception does shake our familiar world view; then we tend to loose our firm foothold. Still, those kind of representations are not wrong by definition. Maarten Welbergen (1956) teases us with this perception in some of his still lives or landscapes with architecture. At first sight things looks familiar, but perceived as, for instance, an oblique projection one is forced to adjust one's view. To look. Important to each and everyone, but vital to a painter. Making good portraits demands a sharp eyesight; the painter has not only to perceive the model, but also the nameless vibration that should be between the two of them. Maarten loves doing this. He paints almost all genres. The landscape is one of them. Preferably Italian. Thus, every voyage supplies him with a lot of souvenirs, that is to say that the study made on the spot is later, in his studio back home, coloured by means of his memory.

Maarten Welbergen, Ripe, 2003, o/c | zoom |

The fruit still life popped up recently in his work. Often enlarged and even floating in air. In this manner he tries to emphasize the tangible and sensual qualities of the fruit. Sometimes phases of human activity are represented: the lemon, the lemon cut, and the lemon squeezed. Everyday reality as an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Because in reality, which is often regarded as only too well-known, there is always something new to discover. Simply a matter of sticking a knife in it. And squeezing it gently.

Maarten Welbergen, Spremata, 2003, o/c | zoom |