Maarten Krol

My paintings are created not necessarily by adding elements onto a canvas, but rather by changing what the canvas is itself. Various pieces of fabric are layered over one another and sewn together. As if they are fragments of different paintings, brought together as a collage of some sort. Marks are created through bleaching, staining, sewing, dyeing, and painting. I am always looking for new methods to explore the medium of painting and question what a painting can be.

I take inspiration from things that I see in daily life. There are certain visual qualities in today's highly designed city landscape that often catch my eye; everyday things that have a painterly quality to them or a certain formal composition that I like. This can be a dirty wall, a spray-painted electricity cabinet, or some trash on the street. Mostly these images are traces of human interaction with their environment that appear as time passes. They are like a break from the usual busy city surrounding where you are overwhelmed with information and confronted with a sensory overload. 

Parts of my works are often left empty. I believe that the grain of the textiles and the variations in textures have their own beauty. I am drawn to working with a muted color palette and a minimal visual language. To me, something more subdued demands more attention, it forces a certain kind of focus. It allows me to shut off my surroundings and lets me be away from all the noise.