HELLO WILLEM, IT’S GREAT TO HAVE YOU FOR A NEW ARTISTIC COLLABORATION WITH 4BYSIX. THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WORK WITH US AGAIN AND FOR SPEAKING TO US ABOUT YOUR WORK.

TO BEGIN, CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND THE EVOLUTION OF YOUR SIGNATURE FIGURE ALONGSIDE ITS SIGNIFICANCE WITH CONVEYING EXPRESSION THROUGHOUT YOUR PRACTICE.

Over the years, the figure had many different uses, mostly to tell a certain story, a joke, or to portray a feeling. But lately I’ve been focussing on the figure itself, and I’ve been enjoying using it as a sort of base shape to work around. I can paint it in a rather normal, portrait way, or, use the shape as a frame work. For example to talk about the old habit of smoking by painting dozens of cigarette butts in the figure’s shape. I like clinging on to a certain familiar thing when I paint, and that figure is it for me.

HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN ASKED BY 4BYSIX TO WORK ACROSS THE SURFACE OF A FORD CAPRI WINDOW AND WHAT MORE CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE PIECE?

It excited me! For years, I’ve been wanting to step into the car world with my work. Cars are a big interest of mine and I’ve been thinking of ways to incorporate them into my practice and this was the perfect entrance into that world. I kept it simple and without too much fuss. It matches the idea of the Capri for me.

HOW DID YOU FIND WORKING ON THE GLASS WHICH HAS A VERY PARTICULAR SHAPE COMPARED TO YOUR USUAL CANVAS WORK?

The biggest difficulty for me wasn’t the shape but rather the material. I taped it, cut out the shape of what I wanted to paint, primed it and then finally painted it. It required me to think about exactly what it was I wanted to paint, which was challenging.

FOLLOWING FROM MY LAST QUESTION, DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC PERSONAL OR CREATIVE INTEREST IN CARS WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR PRACTICE’S EXAMINATION OF THE "DUALITIES THAT DEFINE THE HUMAN CONDITION”?

I’m drawn to the way cars can sit between design, sculpture and cultural object. They’re incredibly functional, but certain cars become objects of desire in their own right. That tension is something I find really interesting creatively. 

WHAT DREW YOU TO THE PROJECT AND CONCEPT OF MAKING NEW WORK ON REPURPOSED CAR PARTS? DO YOU HAVE A PARTICULAR CONNECTION TO CARS OR THE VEHICLES FOR CHANGE PROJECT AS A WHOLE?

4BYSIX in general is a great project so I was very excited to work with them, and it being on repurposed car parts was extra interesting to me like I mentioned earlier. I hope to do more car related art in the future!

LASTLY, HOW HAS LIFE IN THE STUDIO BEEN TREATING YOU RECENTLY AND WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?

The studio is my favorite place to be at the moment. Currently I’m working on a series of smaller canvas works, some of them with my figure, some of them using the figure as that frame work I mentioned earlier. The repetition in painting objects is something I’ve been enjoying lately.