Josje Mees

Josje Mees (1956)

In 2002 I graduated from De Nieuwe Akademie (NAU) in Utrecht.

I am fascinated by the endless variety of traces that "life" leaves behind.

Keywords are therefore: transience, damage, vulnerability, stillness, time, brokenness ...

"Bearers" of those traces are: the earth ... a wall ... an old door ... a human being ... everything is affected by his existence ...

Under that skin of deterioration, age and brokenness is usually also something beautiful to see. I represent it as colors in the ground, sparkles, light in a dark surface .. because I want to show that there is more, the damage but also the beauty of lived existence.

In the later work "encounters" are also central as a constantly repeating rhythm. Every encounter carries beauty, damage and brokenness.

In recent work "time" also plays a role ... everything has its time ....

The materials used have the property of reflecting the above emotions: plaster, sand, clay, loam, slate, lead ...