QUOTES
"The goal in my paintings isn't to say something preordained, but instead to get the viewer to think something unexpected."
"My painting practices investigate the connection of today’s systemic power structures mostly rooted in Colonialism that maintain it’s multilayered structure still being challenge for various minority groups in particular. At the root, is a painterly re-examining of historic glorified stigmas, from landscapes to figurative portrait iconography historically used to project power. In these new works, those glorified stigmas are turned into critical visuals that deconstruct history through the eyes of contemporary concerns.”
"In times of globalization where an era of new domination is constantly challenged, my paintings question previously fixed cannons, stylistically and painterly and propose a reassessment of both. Iconic figures are deconstructed, and classical landscapes are in a crisis while at the heart of it all is hope and human concerns."
"In times of globalization where an era of new domination is constantly challenged, my paintings question previously fixed cannons, stylistically and painterly and propose a reassessment of both. Iconic figures are deconstructed, and classical landscapes are in a crisis while at the heart of it all is hope and human concerns."
“All great painting starts with destruction and then reconstruction of things familiar or maybe not so familiar emotions. That’s why for me, Painting has always been the most intimate act of war.”
"I felt the strong need for a reexamination of what paintings should look like in the century, given the global changes and the interference of technology. Landscapes are no longer pretty or realistic, and political leaders are now transparent. I wanted to create paintings that projected imminency and transparency, ones that pose questions rather than project power and ones that are a more reflective."
“It’s almost impossible to feel the human suffering of others that think or look differently anymore because we have created fictions labels and entities such as race, political party’s, economics and religion through which we filter our human emotions first. That filtering ultimately supersedes any possible experience of pure human compassion or concern for one another. Painting allows me to feel indiscriminately of these power structures without any of those obstacles in the way.”
"Truth becomes a radical act in any repressive society in the same way a good painting must be radical enough to be heard, to be felt or to achieve any new consensus.”
“In many museums you can walk through and see Colonialists depicted on a pedestal in high regard. Next to them are usually classical landscape paintings that have historically been used to project power. In my paintings, these portraits are usually unveiled and stripped of power and the landscapes are often areas of mystery, questions and conflict.”
“My Paintings are not made to be explained or articulated, they are made to surprise, challenge, stimulate, feel and be experienced.”
“Art isn’t here to be understood or explained. Good art is never understood and can’t be rationally explained. In return it expands our understanding of the things we are not aware of and allows us to grow in imagination.”
Marcus Jansen