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A few years ago I stood on the bottom of Kulkulcan, a big temple in the Maya village Chichén Itzá in Mexico.
I was astonished and overwhelmed by the size of it. The idea that it was built by hand was too big to comprehend. I learned that Maya temple’s were built by generations of men who had humps on their back caused by the lifting of stones. Their life was intended for building.
The contrast between now and then struck me. Generations of men who spend their life building on one temple for higher purposes versus the post form follows function building of these days, were everything is built as cheap, quick and functional as can be. Above all, I discovered that I totally couldn’t identify myself with the builders, so far apart is my life seemingly from theirs.

In my work I investigate this feeling of friction between different era’s and different cultures. I believe in Foucault’s assumption that every group; every culture and era, has it’s own discourses and therefore own truths, taboos and values. By association I find images for time and place based characteristics, whereupon I place them opposite to one another in one image, trying to create contrasts.

These contrasts were found in the use of complementary colors; in plasticity versus a flat image; in bright colors versus pale colors and in the use of different painting methods within one work.