Marysha van Hattem

Fine Art

Bachelor

Marysha van Hattem

Artist Statement

Exploring nature, the organic, transience and the unexpected. In the painting process I try to grasp the essence of nature's energy. Dark tones, abstract looking worlds with hints of figurative, organic shapes and forms, cause alienation and a sense of incomprehension. Creating depth in the image by means of light and dark is essential in the formation of my paintings. My artistic research currently evolves around the universe and how that expresses itself in an artwork. The cosmos itself is of great importance in the development of my work. Everything is connected, from the smallest atoms to galaxies millions of light-years apart. The large-scale emptiness that fills the cosmos is closely related to the nullity of existence. We are part of that void. Painting is a way to compensate with this emptiness and in this way give meaning to life, to everything. Nature on a large scale and in its essence, is represented in leaf shapes that merge into an abstract world. The painting becomes an amalgamation of feelings and an experience that meet each other and take shape on the canvas. Ultimately, it becomes a place where one can relate to the work and where the viewer can decide what to see or feel. The act of painting is something natural in itself. In my work, I am constantly looking for the purity of nature and how that manifests itself through painting. By embodying an unpredictable force while painting, I tend to create something natural that is as close to nature as possible. Nature is in continuous metamorphosis, and so are my paintings.