PETRIE KLINCKHAMERS Born: 22-1-1960, Maastricht

Individual Exhibitions (Selection):
Galerie Lambert Tegenbosch, Eindhoven, 1988
Galerie Frans Wolfs, Maastricht, 1990, 1996, 2005
Instituut Sint Marie, Eindhoven, 1997
Galerie Michel Knops, Sittard, 1999
Galerie REM, Jabeek, 2002

Group Exhibitions ( Selection):
Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, 1990
Stedelijk Museum Roermond, 1994
Kasteel Strijthagen, Landgraaf, 1996
Kunsttour 2004, Maastricht, 2004

Permanent Installations::
Daily Newspaper "De Limburger", Maastricht, 1991
Office DSM High Performance Fibers, Heerlen, 1997
Office EdeA, Geleen, 2001

The ever more conscious dealing with a chosen subject and its
related form remains for me the most important drive for my
current creative activities.
This is most vividly expressed in my urge to rouse incentives, a
sensitive experience conveyed through a personal approach of
the chosen form or image and its manner of execution.
Ultimately this serves as a vehicle for communication with the
viewer.

As its creator, I am also the first person to experience a work
as its spectator, which results in a charged atmosphere that
ranges from feeling connected to taking a distance from it.
A work should never be a completed unit; one does not visualize
or translate an idea, but the idea is the point of departure. Thus,
an openness and possibility for communication remains.

I want to appropriate an image or visual vocabulary by
connecting it as closely as possible with the translation of its
underlying idea. This desire of a careful translation channels a
great importance to the personal movement and handling, and
thus shapes the final image and the choice of material. The
chosen medium is a crucial factor in obtaining a synthesis of
form and content, a combination that represents the most
powerful image.
The communication between image and execution ensues,
contributing to the subject and my personal philosophy
and approach.

The aspects of light and space form a significant part in the
translation and support of the final image. I feel a strong urge to
separate the aspects of color and form. For me, color has
always been subordinate to form, and always played the role to
support the latter. Color is never pre-conceived, nor the leading
factor for creating a work, but it is introduced at will. Color is not
a conscious point of departure. I try to introduce color by
applying refined tones in a gray scale that nonetheless conveys
color and that is closely connected to the overall image. Color
does not overrule, but it is present in a subtle manner, it is
integrated. One does not see color, one experiences it, one
feels it. Color is being united with light and space.

By dealing ever more consciously with a work, it becomes more
concrete and creates the need to reduce actions. One needs to
concentrate on the essence of the matter. This is a logical step
in the creative process, but it can only be realized if one is
ready for it and if one can experience it; only then a work can
convince.

All this relates strongly to the form of expression in a creative
process. Evidently, that is not the only pillar supporting my
work. The themes I use in my work also induce forms of
expression and help to choose a particular formal vocabulary.
The themes I address – human consciousness, feeling, being,
human action towards oneself and one’s environment – have
occupied me since several years. These general characteristics
of my work have resulted in the following concrete themes that
presently play a role:

- the dual personality within each individual,
  the seeming harmony
- the desire for communication, not looking but seeing
- visualization, exposure
- inward direction / outward direction

All this is expressed by constructing and assembling basic
elements:

wood panels covered with acrylic paint. Employing one standard
measurement

(14,5 x 14,5 cm [5 ¾ x 5 ¾ in.]), these panels form the basic
elements of each work. This method enables me to deal even
more closely with the concept of two extremes within one
image; not only in terms of form and composition, but also in
terms of color. My work is still predominantly two-dimensional,
but this choice of material introduces a relation to the third
dimension. In a logical continuation of this development, I will
continue to explore this factor.

Petrie Klinckhamers