During the COVID-19, especially the lockdown, we were stuck at home & my atelier with lots of time and no deadlines or planning.

This was an exceptional situation for an artist to reassess older work, think about further developments, experiment with other materials, and, above all, be able to do what paint really wanted. The three works I made for you are mainly based on this solitude in my micro-cosmos: my studio.

The 3 works show small fragments, snapshots of my atelier, which I interpreted as still lifes, 'nature mortes'.

I always use beamers to enlarge my sketches or preparations to the final canvas, but for these works, I specifically chose not to use any kind of technology.

These works were painted (mainly drawn) on the spot according to analog lenses and mirrors.

The idea to work this way was based on the research of Tim Jenison, who claimed that Johannes Vermeer used some kind of huge camera obscura with similar lenses to create his famous paintings (mainly interior setting built in his atelier or outdoor views seen from the inside). 

There is also a documentary available of this research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94pCNUu6qFY&t=44s  

I didn't use a whole camera obscura to make these works but I used a more rudimental technique based on the research & book called 'secret knowledge' by  David Hockney.

I think that it is about 20 years ago that Hockney published this investigation, it is a similar study in which he tries to elucidate the extremely fast optical evolution in painting among the Flemish primitives through the use of lenses.