Accumulated Experiences
Vivid impressions of the past and present fill the canvas. They are folded and bundled to create a showcase of experimentation, research and deep personal experience.
The production is a process of gathering, bundling and structuring a multitude of impressions, emotions and experiences within a gigantic structure. Living the moment of production is key to the works as during the process I feel the sensation of all these impressions coming together and being reflected on the fabric. The production, place and surroundings are as important as the completed works. I’m utterly consumed within the moment as these elements unify on the canvas.
I swaddle my impressions, emotions and experiences of creating art in the open field as it gives an additional experience of liberation, not feeling boundaries of frames, walls, or other physical boundaries.
Industrial machines fascinate me. The machines themselves as well as the symbolism are important elements. They relate to force, movement, loud motors, artisan crafts, work ethic and perseverance. I see such industrial machines as an extension of the paintbrush, an instrument that produces the way I instruct it. As the operator I am responsible for the produced work, I determine the parameters and turn the dials. The output is the result of an intense process of continuous decision-making; observing, thinking and acting are inseparable and require full engagement.
The expanded works are gigantic structures to capture the vast wealth of impressions, emotions and experiences. Even when bundled and folded it appears substantial with limitless possibilities. This is due to the lightness of the material, the permeability of color and lines that create a repetitive track with no clear beginning or end.
The work is the product of memories, emotions and physical experiential reality. The idea is to resize and encapsulate a lifetime of experiences and emotions into a compact and refined container I can take and display anywhere in the world, regardless of space and time, regardless of where I’m coming from or where I’m heading.
Sometimes I’ll unfold and expose part of my impressions, emotions and experiences to the audience but others remain always hidden from view. It is not important for the audience to experience all of the contents. What is most important is their impression of its significance, appeal or even beauty.
The material, which spontaneously is left behind on the fabric, unveils a fragment of time and place. My intention is to give the spectator different perspectives of my work to let the audience wonder what they’re looking at and what remains hidden.
Basel, 2015
Mariejon de Jong-Buijs
All rights reserved: @Mariejon de Jong-Buijs, 2024