Paul Drissen / Henri Matisse / Richard Tuttle

Henri Matisse

The Rose Marble Table

1917

oil on canvas

146 x 97 cm

Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund

 

 

 

 

For me, a painting does not contain an image; it sets an image in motion.

There are two artists I’d like to highlight as sources of inspiration. I have a long-standing fascination with Henri Matisse’s early oeuvre, specifically the paintings he created between 1904 and 1918. Richard Tuttle is still alive, but for me, he is an important bridge to understanding Matisse.

 

Paul Drissen, 2026

 

 

I respond to the creative in much of the work of other artists. The more of it there is in the work, the greater my response.

 

Richard Tuttle in 1978

 

 

 

Richard Tuttle 

My Best. B

2022

emery board, staples, green duct tape, spray paint, bolt, wire, electricians wire, PVC board, plastic raffia, nails, pine plywood, pine wood

20 × 76 cm

Paul Drissen (NL)

ZT (Roztaf)

2025 

hare glue, emulsion, pigments on collage on canvas

41 x 33 cm

https://pauldrissen.nl

 

 

Kees Barten / JCJ Vanderheyden

 

JCJ Vanderheyden

Blauw kader

1966-1980

polyvinyl acetate paint, distemper on canvas

240,5 x 197,8 x 6 cm

Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven

 

 

 

 

It might be a little embarrassing for someone who cites JCJ Vanderheyden as one of his sources of inspiration but who only delved into the literature after receiving the invitation to write this blog. Having been born and raised in Geleen, my point of reference was not so much the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam as the Walraff-Richards Museum in Cologne, which houses the Sammlung Ludwig. In this collection, American ‘post-war art’ had absolute precedence, and having grown up on pop music and comics, I immediately felt a natural connection to it. At the Tilburg art academy with the long name, my tutors had little appreciation for these artists. But out of the corner of my left eye, I spotted another artist from Brabant who fundamentally questioned painting and the art of painting: JCJ Vanderheyden. For me, his work served as a link between my American heroes and my European roots. The decision to create a painting is never neutral, and as an artist you must constantly account for that choice. Engaging in a constant dialogue with your medium is a means of making visible what has been seen.

 

I never actively searched for JCJ Vanderheyden, yet time and again I came across him in exhibitions and museums, and each time he served as a confirmation and a reminder of the path I wished to follow as a painter. Initially, this involved the frames and other ways of echoing the shape of the canvas; later, his photographs (particularly the aeroplane windows) and horizons were added to this. And again and again, that sky-blue. Now that I’ve been delving into the literature (thank you, René Korten), I’ve only just realised how close he really is. His quest for the unspeakable, the silence, the sublime – without losing touch with mundane reality. A father figure (my father was born in 1925) whom, fortunately, I am only now really getting to know and against whom I no longer need to rebel.

 

Kees Barten, 2026

 

 

 

 

Kees Barten (NL)

Kruissteenstraat 24.1

2024

casein tempera, varnish on plywood

32 x 23 cm

www.keesbarten.com