Within the Insight — Elise Berkvens

The recent paintings by Elise Berkvens (Schijndel, NL, 1982) are the ever temporary products of a complex process of searching and exploring. Berkvens is fascinated by the tension between the flat surface of the painting canvas and the suggestion of three-dimensionality. As a starting point, she often uses pictures or other images of nature, architecture, or interiors which challenge her to literally and figuratively put a twist on them. The two-dimensional images are folded, bent and/or cut up into three-dimensional objects. Subsequently, these extremely fragile models are photographed and these documantary pictures serve as a source of inspiration for her painting. The driver behind this complex dialectic between the flat surface and the third dimension is always the subtle interplay between what can be observed externally and what it causes internally. Thus, in this sense, the paintings of Elise Berkvens should not really be referred to as abstract paintings. Although a clearly recognisable motif is mostly missing, apart from the play between the shapes and colours and the suggestion of depth and space, there are also many echoes of intangible feelings and moods. In this serious play, in this playful knowledge, the artist explores the boundaries of both physical and mental space.