"When we look and see, the mind identifies, classifies and stores what we are looking at. The more common the object, the shorter this trajectory.

A lemon is a lemon, the brain does not have to investigate, the process is fast. I am interested in the re-looking, 'recycling' the common images. Although inspired and influenced by the Dutch masters of the 17th century, especially by their still life paintings, my approach is very different. Still life painting of that era was a depiction of wealth and status. My compositions are stripped of 'precious' objects and identifiable backgrounds.

The objects reveal only themselves, leaving the viewer with her or his own associations.

 

I love the challenge to arrest a moment in time that in itself is timeless".

 

Hendrika ter Elst . 2020