Artist Portraits

Het Ritme van de Natuur
(the Rhythm of Nature)

Short film on the Dutch Communist painter Riek Milikowski de Raat.

Riek de Raat is a hero of the resistance, she spent her war-days conspiring against the nazis at risk of death and worse. She paid a heavy price, her lover Anton was taken by the Gestapo as she was away for a weekend to rest her soul after year of war.

At this moment she lives in Drenthe with her son. She never forsake her red heart.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h37IUyfqDRQ[/youtube]

The film is in Dutch but I will insert a translation when I have time. The drawings are certainly comprehensible without knowing what she says as to their background and the intention behind them. One thing she said is that she wasnt sure, at the time, if she was allowed to look as deeply into someones soul as she felt she was doing.

As my adopted grandmother, Ive known her my whole life as an extremely tough fighter for justice. At crucial moments she has been there for me.

Your Grandmother? Lucky brat aren’t you. She is definitely gifted. Look forward to your translated updates. Definitely going to have to, yes have to, see more of her work. Did she work mostly with live models, from photos, imaginings? What other artistic surprises are lined up, Jakob?

Her drawings are crazy good. Her still life paintings of kitchen goods and plant lives have a near trompe l’oeil quality that is endearing. Thanks for sharing. :smiley:

Any drawings of you Fixed?

Thanks MM, Ive passed it along to her.
She uses models, and objects, and always flowers of season. She is almost always involved in a painting of a flower. She is in a wise trance about how they evolve, the leaves. Oh the thing she forsesaw about Europe. Always known she has.

Im about to post a next post about a rune wizard.
He invited me in his drawing room, where he had never allowed anyone, to document the process.

SM - She’s done a painting of me, which I like, it painted me in a hopeful state where I hadn’t seen it, and consequently I attained a solid confidence in things. It is of me in adolescence, I have no digital print of it, it’s at my parents house with one of my sister of the same time, in which Riek had perceived a rather unhappy outlook, that my parents hadn’t seen… different story.
In the end it was a unwelcome compliment, as it revealed the utter toughness that my sister turned out to have, and need. Now she’s happy, ate through the Rijstebrijberg.

Tekenen Sinds Mensenheugenis
(signs/drawing of time immemorial)

25 minute film on the Dutch Runic painter Johannes van de Weert. Shot in Amsterdam Oost in the winter of 2002/2003, a season of spine shivering magic.

I met Johannes when I was living in a room next to his son Arie. I do not know enough about his background to say much that is coherent, what I know is that he investigated deeply into Germanic lore, and has confronted in some scary ways the nazi magic - and that he is a man of few words. The honor that he extended me is incredible. I did need to smoke a nice fat King Hassan hash joint before I was able to weave the narratives together.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig4woDO_SIE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRdmbVaTwEY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n-r0Vc5OtU[/youtube]

The first part introduces automatic drawing. The second part introduces rune drawing.

“Have you had any time to translate your Grandmother’s words?” thought the deceased.

I think graphology works on a similar principle - brain/body language expressed in indirect/subtle ways. You can tell a few things about a person by his handwriting if you know how and what to look for, but the writing has to be automatic/unawares/natural. Same with mindless doodling. But I don’t see it as art or something truly mystic - maybe more in the realm of psychoanalytic (it is used in criminology too, and even in medical diagnosis in some cases!). This is a good book that goes into the theory and history behind it, though this is not for the beginners.
Amazon
amazon.com/Definitive-Book- … 1601630255