Emma van Amerongen

Artist Statement
As a painter, I investigate the interspace between memory, fantasy, feelings and the actual image. I enjoy the balance between letting the material work and controlling the visual result; in order to create an atmospheric spectrum far from the initial image. My paintings convey a sense of recollection that speaks more to the spectator’s mind than to the actual memories from which they emerged. The passage of time is therefore an important theme in my work; my artworks are both detached from any notion of time and at its center.

I tend to find my inspiration for my paintings in books and films such as Gerbrand Bakker’s “Boven is het stil” (The Twin) and Jan Siebelink’s “Knielen op een bed violen” (Kneeling on a Bed of Violets) both of which can capture an overwhelmingly uncanny atmosphere in a few sentences. But films as Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders,1984) or  Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999) and directors like Alex van Warmerdam or Krzysztof Kieślowski also inspire me in their cinematography and masterful use of stillness in the narrative and images. Which is also the reason that after graduation, I started the bachelor of Film and Literature at Leiden University.