maarten janssen

You are looking at a painting. To some it looks like nothing, others find it ugly, but the reader understands that the painting does not mean to represent anything and does not want to please. It wants to be. It wants to be as a mammal is; grown from within, surrounded by a skin. Does it want to be understood? At least it doesn't want to hide in mists. It wants to speak and undergo. be accepted. It is of course an object, but it wants to have the illusion of being a subject.
In the studio I am 'a kind of painter'. Painting is my frame of reference, but my work does not always consist of paint on canvas and does not always hang on the wall. Outside the studio I regularly work in situ, installation-like.
Outside the studio I am also 'a kind of researcher'. In the recent past, as a research artist, I initiated various projects related to historical decorative art in the built environment.