The revival of an ever-recurring urge to return and experience again human figurative painting underlies the starting point of this series.

The human face – nearly the only part of our body that is uncovered – this bareness and exposure is what attracts me immensely to the subject.

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The images I paint reflect a fusion between my imagination and reality. While painting, I engage in a dialogue with them, feeling almost as if I am on their life’s journey. Each line on their face feels like the lines on a map, guiding me through their own personal experiences, their struggle, their pain. Their faces become charged with their own force and energy, loaded with information of their lives gone by. The portraits’ features undergo a transformation. Amongst others, I used a layer of oil colour that covers and hides the original, spontaneous lines, almost like a clown putting on his make-up, a mask hiding his true self – his pain, his grievances, afraid to expose his fears and discontentment in life.

As such, my images express the everlasting conflict that is part of being human: we long to break down the barriers, utterly exposing ourselves, but instead we find ourselves hiding behind our many masks, afraid of revealing our true selves, our true faces, and remaining with silent thoughts.