1 If you weren’t an artist, what else would you be?
Probably very unhappy.
2.Name 3 of your least favourite artists.
I don’t remember their names, because when I saw their art, I thought they didn’t deserve to be called artists.
3.Anytime, any place – which artist’s body would you most like to inhabit?
Okay, for 1 week I’d like to be Banksy!
4.What is your favourite ‘ism’?
Expressionism, what would I do without it?
5.What was the most intelligent thing that someone said or wrote about your work?
‘It is the artist who mediates between the underworld and the world above. The transparent worlds which appear in Barend’s paintings are still miles away from the limited fixation, which the regulation in the world above has acquired from society.’
6.And the dumbest?
‘That’s easy, I can do that too, by just throwing some paint on the canvas and next I only have to stir a little’
7.Which artists would you most like to rip off, sorry, I mean appropriate as a critique of originality and authorship?
In fact, no one, because I think it’s so important to be unique. But at the same time I know that everything that is created today (by all artists), is kind of a rip off/sequel from what has been made in the past. In that case, I like the work of Willem DeKooning, Jackson Pollock, Gerhard Richter, Jo Baer and Rembrandt.
8.Do you care what your art costs? State your reasons!
Yes. a. I live from my art. b. I want it to be exclusive but c. I don’t want it to be that expensive that it’s only available for the elite (or those who think they belong to the elite).
9.What are the three big ideas that you would like your work to express?
a. Nothing is fixed, everything is open, no set standards, no expectations, but total freedom
b. It’s in the manner of seeing that moves your understanding.
c. Don’t take life to seriously
10. Are you a political artist?
No, but if you’d like it to be, yes. Everything is possible.
11.How do you start the process of making work?
I push on the escape button in my head to empty my mind (or I run 4,5 miles to empty it!)
12. What next?
I translate with paint what pops up in my heart.
13. If Moma and the Tate and the Pompidou wanted to acquire one of your works each, which would you want them to have?
The Moma: ‘Complicated’, Tate: ‘Propulsive’ and Centre Pompidou: ‘Daredevil challenge’
14.Complete the following sentence “Blessed art the artists, for they shall……” keep on triggering the spectators.
15.Complete the following sentence “Blessed are the curators, for they shall…” be focussed on what’s new, what’s next, so artists have to stay alert and keep on evolving!
16. Complete the following sentence “Blessed are the art critics, for they shall….”watch over quality and uniqueness
17. What is your favourite cheese? Gorgonzola
18. What’s next for you?
A summer break, next participating with Monkdogz Urban Art to the AAF in New York City and with Artishox to BLOOOM, the Creative Industries Art Show in Cologne (linked to ART21, for more info www.blooom.de), both in the Fall of 2010.
