Marianne Hendriks shares her wonderment of nature in a portray observe knowledgeable by her background in structure and design. With every distillation of a leaf right into a easy abstraction, the Netherlands-based artist makes an attempt to make sense of the world by categorically manipulating geometry and kind.

Her botanical work are meant to be immediately recognisable but have a naive look. The compositions and geometric shapes present constructions and rhythm and seem to have grown inside the canvas. There’s a fixed switching between the 2 dimensional and the three-dimensional illustration inside the work. Georgia O’Keeffe, Hieronymus Bosh, Frida Kahlo, and Vincent van Gogh are large inspirations on her work.

Marianne graduated with a BA in Structure & Spatial Design with Honors at Central St. Martins in London, England.  The Artspace Artist Direct artist’s work have been exhibited in Amsterdam, New York, London, and Italy and have been featured in newspapers and magazines all over the world together with the New York Occasions, Vogue Residing NL, Saatchi Artwork Catalogue and BOOOOOOM!. We caught up along with her and requested her a couple of questions on how, why, when and the place she does what she does. 

 

 MARIANNE HENDRIKS – Nos Folia, 2019


How would you describe your work to somebody who has by no means seen it?  I might describe my botanical work as work the place the plant is my inspiration and muse. I need to seize one thing about them. Once I paint a plant, I consider making a portrait of a plant like an individual, with a soul, and a historical past, and feelings, and needs. The artworks even have a dreamlike otherworldliness and seem surreal, displaying vulnerability and fragility.  The Botanicus assortment is painted in oil paint and the gathering displays a various spectrum of strategies from totally different ages. The work are painted in impasto method, which means my hand and my intention are very current. I deliberately use this direct portray method because it permits me to document  time and movement.  

 

 MARIANNE HENDRIKS – Mater, 2017

What are the present issues occurring which might be inspiring you? I at the moment observe what efforts are being made to guard nature by governments, establishments and people, I discover this actually inspiring. I additionally really feel accountable. For the time being it’s extra evident than ever earlier than that species have gotten extinct. All of us have to make efforts and sacrifices. We have now not been defending our environments sufficient. I concern we’d lose all of it. Species need to work extremely arduous to outlive, it’s a fixed battle. I hope we be taught extra about our nature, to get to know it higher. And I additionally hope we are able to permit nature extra space to exist in our cities. 
 
The place do you slot in, who do you suppose you belong alongside? I really feel linked to so many artists from totally different ages and artwork actions. Who I really feel I belong apart to I discover nearly unimaginable to reply. I observe and research artwork from the Egyptian period to the early nineteenth century Japonism motion and in every single place the place nature is portrayed, in medication and biblical representations. I practise and research the Dutch Masters strategies from the 18th century to know their world view and strategies.
 
I additionally admire botanical artists corresponding to Giovanna Garzoni, Marianne North, Georgia O’Keeffe and Rachel Ruysch. Rachel Ruysch was the daughter of a botanist and scientist, and she or he had an in depth information and developed unbelievable strategies and was even increased prized then Rembrandt within the day. Marianne North is simply wondrous; she explored the entire world and recorded it at a time the place it was not solely uncommon for a girl however the locations she went to have been additionally within the wilderness and never with out threat of catching illnesses or being eaten. 
 
I additionally really feel very influenced by Hieronymus Bosh. He portrays ideologies and pictures which might be each extremely highly effective and really harmful on the similar time. He understood this as a creator, he reminds the viewer continuously that we as people are able to getting in two instructions, we’re able to doing good or dangerous as people, it’s in fact very biblical. It feels extra related than ever in the present day. 
 
Vincent van Gogh had a powerful connection and empathy for nature, he was a person of religion however really ended up worshipping nature. He spent hours occurring countless walks, he due to this fact spent a whole lot of time with the topics he painted. He writes in his letters how overwhelmed he’s with emotion; you merely really feel what love he felt if you end up taking a look at his work. I believe you may as well see within the work that he’s battling with all types of issues, there’s a enormous quantity of friction and battle inside every portray. Seeing his work is like watching an awesome storm occurring proper in entrance of you. 
 
I didn’t immediately join with Frida Kahlo’s work, however now she is so essential and highly effective for me. She merely painted what was occurring round her and in her life with honesty and, at occasions, slightly brutally. Her life was additionally very dramatic, and this definitely mirrored in her work. Her later self-portraits present a self-image that to me is extremely highly effective. She reveals possession, she tells the world who she is and never the opposite manner round. I discover her and her work extremely inspirational.

 

MARIANNE HENDRIKS – Lusus Conspicuum, 2019


 
What do you consider whenever you’re creating? When I’m creating, I consider a whole lot of issues. I firstly really feel kind of in love, I really feel very absorbed and spend a whole lot of time observing and studying every thing about it. I believe I’m a extremely delicate individual, so I not solely suppose, however I reply very a lot to my feelings. I then begin off with a whole lot of preparation, a big proportion I dedicate to statement. I collect a whole lot of materials and information. I sketch, make notes, write tales and take images. I research what I need to paint fastidiously earlier than I get to the canvas.
 
One among my favorite locations is Kew gardens in London. The Palm Home has over 5000 species and the extra I spend time there the crazier the vegetation look like to me. Aside from doing common research and statement, I additionally like to essentially get to have a good suggestion of what the vegetation are like. What their textures of the leaves are, is it arduous and spiky or delicate and mushy and even bushy. I fastidiously contact them with warning as a whole lot of them are toxic. I have a look at the area they occupy; are they low to the bottom and in what local weather do they exist? I additionally make a whole lot of visible references in my thoughts. It’s such as you attempt to seize one thing so intensely and with an enormous quantity of frequency that it imprints on my lens and my thoughts. 

I then begin off with a really clear thought and that’s the starting of the various instructions I can take it. I give attention to what’s in entrance of me and make a whole lot of choices as I’m creating. I see my work as a dialogue and reflection, that’s the second the place I take it some place else.  
 
The place do your titles come from? There are clues to what the topics are inside the titles that I give the work. My work refers to mythology, symbolism and artwork historical past. The Botanicus assortment is predicated on present plant species, as a result of I alter their look, I alter their unique species names. 
 
The species names are in Latin. It’s simply presumed that they’re the unique species names, however they’ve been altered by me. The titles are additionally a homage to the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus who created the fashionable system of naming organisms within the yr 1753 known as ‘Systema naturae’.
 
Might you describe your course of, or a typical working day? My typical working day I might describe as various. I work on a number of initiatives on the similar time. I’ve initiatives with totally different shoppers which have usually strict timelines, my schedule can be decided by this loads. 
 
I’ve in my studio a number of work that I work on on the similar time. This is because of drying occasions, particularly when I’m working in a number of layers. I even have a rack from a bakery the place my canvases are going out and in in rotation, the cabinets are all the time stacked with drying canvases.  I additionally have a tendency to increase the analysis and work on artwork items, I usually have a number of concepts for every portray. 

Quite a lot of my day-to-day work can be similar to working some other enterprise. I’ve lists, with notes consisting of knowledge on functions, transport, ordering supplies, funds and ebook maintaining, shopper emails, manufacturing logistics. I’ve document maintaining methods so I can entry my database each on-line and in folders on the shelf.
 
I do loads in home within the studio. I construct my very own frames and canvases and transport crates. I do that as a result of I actually get pleasure from this half and it permits me to make it possible for I get to current my work the way in which I like, and I actually get  to consider what actually works. I additionally discover it essential to make it possible for I exploit supplies which might be sustainable and that no chemical substances are used within the manufacturing. This has been essential to me proper from the beginning.
 
I additionally maintain monitor of what the artwork world and trade is doing and the remainder of the world round me. I actually like to review and perceive what I can do to develop myself additional. I take programs to be taught strategies. For the previous 5 years I’ve taken two lessons every week mastering the portray strategies and recipes of the Dutch masters, finding out alongside artwork historians and artwork restorers in Amsterdam.
 
Final yr I did the Royal Academy summer season course London in up to date arts. I even have my very own library, and I be certain I’ve all the fitting books. I maintain monitor of publications and new analysis papers which might be being revealed by universities. I discover this thrilling, there may be a lot new analysis being performed. 
 

 MARIANNE HENDRIKS – Monstera Magnum, 2019


 
What made you need to turn into an artist? I all the time felt that I used to be an artist within the sense that I used to be all the time observing my environment and capturing them. I’ve all the time drawn on a regular basis from a really younger age and labored in watercolour. I additionally favored going to museums from a younger age. I really began to create oil work seven years in the past and determined to really begin promoting my work six years in the past. The self-directory facet of being an artist can be one thing that’s enormously interesting to me. I used to be already doing a great deal of self-initiated initiatives. Dreaming about one thing is great however executing an thought will lead you in utterly totally different instructions and is much more thrilling, additionally you give attention to what you’ve gotten in entrance of you. 
 
I all the time had a dream that I might be an artist at some point, it was all the time only a fantasy and it felt out of attain and the trade felt unlikely to maintain an earnings from. I additionally didn’t really feel assured, and I used to be exploring a whole lot of different inventive paths. I graduated in structure at St.Martins in London. After that I labored within the inventive fields as an assistant artwork director and producer and illustrator/ graphic designer and costume designer and set builder. I used to be clearly discovering my manner and I used to be working arduous and studying from nice folks. The profession path of an artist comes with uncertainties and dangers, you need to anticipate a number of outcomes.

What was your earliest artwork creation? My mother and father inform me it’s an image that bought framed and nonetheless hangs proudly on their wall. It’s an paintings that I did in watercolour on paper of a jungle with an enormous tiger leaping into the portray and a person working and smiling. I keep in mind making this paintings very effectively, I used to be very enthusiastic about it and likewise very proud. I used to be nine-years-old on the time.
 
What ought to folks search for in your work and what do you hope they may get out of your artwork? I believe what folks would see in my work is my observations of nature and my makes an attempt to know the world. I hope folks can see that I attempt to painting one thing about myself and nature that phrases merely wouldn’t be capable of seize. I hope that individuals can see that my work is reflective of what’s occurring round us. My work can be about our heritage and our belonging and it’s about freedom. I hope folks can see that in my paintings.
 


If I purchase certainly one of your works, what ought to I say to mates about it? When collectors buy my work, they inform me that I’ve captured magnificence, that’s to me an awesome praise as a result of magnificence is so advanced and essential.  One time a household with two younger youngsters all determined to purchase a small portray of mine collectively. They described it like they have been adopting a small pet, a brand new member of the household.

How does your work match collectively – is there a journey you’ll be able to see? My journey is about how I could make a portrait of nature, our worldview and to know our heritage. I do a whole lot of historic analysis on what different painters have performed prior to now. They inform us about our understanding of the world. Most significantly what their values have been, as a result of that actually helps us perceive who we’re in the present day. I’m educating myself to know our previous higher and likewise myself. I’m at the moment creating a brand new assortment alongside the Botanicus assortment known as  ‘All that’s unknown’. Additionally it is in regards to the story of nature however with a totally totally different strategy to telling the story of nature then I’ve performed so with the Botanicus assortment. I’m exploring psychological well being and identification and referring to historical philosophies. This topic can be very private and essential to me.

Are you able to management the place the method takes you? I do management the method; it’s nevertheless a course of that’s non-linear. I commute with concepts. The preliminary thought tends to alter and that’s the place it turns into attention-grabbing to be a creator. I’m all the time conscious that I’m speaking my internal dialogue to others. I see my work as making a efficiency. My intention is to be honest and reveal and conceal issues. When I’m in entrance of my canvas, I’m very focussed on what I’m doing. I make fixed choices with what is going on at that very second in entrance of me.   
 
What are the bits of being a superb artist you battle with? I battle at occasions with having to take care of loads alone at occasions. As an artist you might be mechanically set by yourself directive path and have this outsider existence. I believe additionally it is essential to be goal and demanding and to create work that’s reflective. The artwork trade can be slightly advanced to navigate. Once I began 5 years in the past, I had no thought about how the artwork world operates. I requested artists that I admired and have been doing effectively within the arts trade. I got here throughout extremely sort artists Daniel Mullen, and his spouse Lucy Cordes, who can be an artist. Additionally the artist Georgie Mason has given me a lot, and is such an inspiration. I’m grateful for his or her generosity and kindness.

 
 MARIANNE HENDRIKS – Incrementum Dytich, 2020


Are you able to inform us a bit about three of your works on Artspace?

Mater, portray Oil on cradled birch wooden. This huge portray is called Mater, she resembles power to me. She is the ginormous solar within the sky and mom of the Botanicus assortment. She has rays that seem very structural, like a protect of armour, displaying power as if she goes into battle. The rays are additionally transferring outward giving this all-embracing impact, like a mom. 
 
Nos Folia, portray Oil on cradled birch wooden. These two diptych work are about vastness. Placing two work collectively additionally does this to our cognitive response, we instinctively simply need to evaluate on a regular basis, it’s immediately about motion. Your eyes are directed to maneuver forwards and backwards inside the composition. The 2 leaves have motion inside them, the traces transfer inward and outward like waves. 

Incrementum Diptych, portray, Oil on cradled birch wooden. This pair of diptych work is impressed by the skyscrapers I noticed throughout my first exhibition in New York. The towers of New York confirmed to me the human want to develop. The construction is numeric and has an interlocking sample in an upward route. The portray was additionally chosen by the New York Occasions throughout artwork week the next yr after I was exhibiting the paintings.

Do you gather artwork your self or one thing that you simply think about artwork? I gather artwork, the latest piece is a restricted version of a good friend of mine and gifted artist Kay Gasei. I change artworks with different artists. I’ve additionally deliberate an change with the great artist and good friend Nadia Attura. I continuously have a look at what different up to date artists are creating. I’m aiming to cowl each inch of my partitions with artwork that I like. 

I even have a whole lot of objects that really feel like they need to be thought of artwork. I like craftsmanship, I like supplies, and objects with a historical past and I like taking care of them. It looks like a duty, like you’re the keeper of treasures. I’ve books, lamps, furnishings, classic ball robes. I’ve a whole lot of great issues that I discover wonderful and provoking. I like roaming automotive boots and vintage markets.  
  
What are you engaged on in the intervening time? I all the time work on a number of items on the similar time. I create a whole lot of sketches to work out concepts. Particularly with the brand new ‘All that’s unknown’ assortment that I’m doing, it is extremely time consuming. I work in a number of layers in oil paint with drying occasions. I work as much as sixteen glazes. I develop my very own recipes and strategies from the Previous Masters and the renaissance and write a logbook for every portray. I’m within the course of in the intervening time making ready for exhibitions in the summertime and the autumn.

 

 



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