Interview with Tosja van Lieshout: “My work is about the inevitable changeable”

“My graduation work for the Frank Mohr Institute consists of large-scale landscapes that I made just before the summer. These works were very light in colour and on an unprepared canvas, which makes the colours look a lot brighter. I wanted to do something different for Kunstpunt. The work that is now hanging in Kunstpunt is a series inspired by a residency I did last September. I spent two weeks in Limognes, which is in the most sparsely populated region of France. Here I was really in the middle of nature. It was the end of the summer, so nature was already changing colour to the new season. Melancholy is a major theme in my work, or the feeling that something is lost or something that never existed. I then try to remember what was nice at a certain moment and capture this in my paintings. That is why I did not paint the series in Limognes, but is based on my loose memories and the image archive from there. For Kunstpunt I captured my personal memories of my stay in Limognes and the changing nature in the paintings.

Due to the visible changes in nature, I wanted to paint with darker colours and richer shades to reflect on this. From a practical point of view, I also had to work smaller and in more detail. The series reads like a visual diary, with each painting telling a separate story and the series can be leafed through like the pages of a book. My work is about the inevitably changeable and you see that reflected in nature. I also see this reflected in my personal life. The landscapes reflect the changes around me. When you graduate, you are thrown in at the deep end. This is a turning point in my life. That is why I am grateful that I can show this side of myself at Kunstpunt. It is nice to be seen at such an important moment as in the period immediately after graduation.

A previous residency made me aware of the influence that a changing environment has on my painting. In 2020 I won the AKV St. Joost|Van Gogh AiR prize, which earned me a residency where I lived and worked on the De Moeren estate. This was in a barn in the landscape where Vincent Van Gogh grew up. The intention is to create work in the spirit of Van Gogh in two months. There were no external distractions here, which allowed me to fully immerse myself in painting. During this residency I learned to work in deep concentration and to fully explore a subject. In the years after the residency I have become more aware of my environment and the influence it has on my color palette. A lot has happened internally, but the deep focus and use of colour inspired by nature are what I remember most.

When I start painting, I am always intrigued by paint. I work with different techniques and formats and I have a dynamic and capricious way of painting. I have recently started using prepared linen more often for the canvas. In recent years I have also discovered unprepared cotton. If the cotton is completely rough, it absorbs the paint again. I find it interesting that the canvas seems to fight back in this way, because I paint at a high pace. Painting on cotton forces my patience and concentration. I paint with oil paint, gouache and ink. My work in the duo exhibition at Kunstpunt consists of a combination of all these different techniques and materials.

In the duo exhibition Chasing Ballad of the Changing Baton, the works of Muzammil Hussain and myself really come together in the space. Nevertheless, our themes are very different. I see Muzammil’s work as more contemporary, while I have a more classical approach to painting. My subjects are mainly landscapes and still lifes, but then interwoven with personal stories. Then I try to cast this in a new more contemporary form through my use of materials. The use of color forms the visual connection between Muzammil’s work and mine, because we both don’t mince our words about our use of color. With Muzammil and I, our great passion for color is at the forefront in the paintings.

Soon I will move to Antwerp. I hope to find a new adventure and a good art scene there. When I was growing up, I always lived close to the Belgian border in Breda and I have been coming to Antwerp since I was young. There I will finally have a studio in my house again. It feels like the right choice.”

The duo exhibition Chasing Ballad of the Changing Baton by Tosja van Lieshout and Muzammil Hussain can be seen in the Art Rental of Kunstpunt until December 21, 2024.

Text: Kim Vermeulen
Photos: Siese Veenstra