When Life Became the Work, The Works

tinekestorteboom
10 hours ago
3 min read

1994–2002

There are periods in an artist's life that, in retrospect, seem quieter than they really were.

For a long time, I thought these were such years.

Looking back, I see something different.

Painting was no longer the only place where images appeared. For a brief period, I imagined a future in New York. Then I became pregnant with my first son. The future I had imagined quietly gave way to another one. I designed record covers, created illustrations, developed stage imagery and worked on projects connected to music, theatre and public space. The work moved outward, into other disciplines and into other people's stories.

At the same time, my private life expanded rapidly.

In 1996, my first son was born. A year later, we bought a vast warehouse on Amsterdam's Brouwersgracht and began transforming almost one thousand square metres into a place to live and work. I still travelled to Spain for an artist residency, but increasingly the studio existed alongside construction work, family life and the countless practical demands of everyday living.

In 2000, my twin sons were born.

Looking back, I understand why the rhythm of the larger painting series became less visible during these years. It was never because there was less work. Quite the opposite.

I continued to exhibit, to collaborate, to publish and to develop new projects.

Almost everything had become work.

The drawings and smaller studies were often made between other responsibilities. They were not interruptions to the larger paintings. They were a way of keeping the inner line alive.

Meanwhile, my imagery found new forms. It appeared on record covers, accompanied music, became part of theatre productions and entered collaborations beyond the studio. A painting no longer had to exist only as an autonomous object. An image could carry music, frame a performance or quietly inhabit another medium altogether.

In 2002, much of what we had built together began to unravel. The outer world became unstable.

Yet something essential remained.

Not always as a major series.

Sometimes only as a drawing.

A design.

A fragment.

A small painting made between everything else.

Looking back, I no longer see these years as a gap in my artistic development.

They were the years in which the boundaries between art and life slowly dissolved.

The studio expanded into daily life.

The work had not disappeared.

It had simply taken on the shape of a life.

Selected Projects & Exhibitions (1992–2002)

1992

Solo exhibition, Galerie Flesseman, Amsterdam
ART Gallery, Roosendaal

1993

Amor Fati, Posthoornkerk, Amsterdam
Amor Fati, Kruisgang Singel, Amsterdam
Film: Een Punaise in de Maan (Irene Kress)
Record cover and release: NYX I
Radio interview, Salto Amsterdam
Poster design for Strindberg, Plein Theater Amsterdam

1994

Solo exhibition, Galerie Hof & Huyser, Amsterdam (January, Founded by Fons Hof and Michael Huijser)
Group exhibition, Galerie Hof & Huyser, Amsterdam (May–June)
Illustrations for Hype / Roxy Magazine
Design and release of Natuurmoment for Natuurmonumenten