Since 1987, every night I make a small drawing. This habit has
thus far resulted in 55 books with almost 6000 drawings. They are
made in bed, very late at night, when my mind seems to wonder more
freely. My works show a fight with morality. This strangely volatile thing,
twisting with time, changing through progressing thought, that determines
what can or cannot be, what is right or wrong, is to me an irresistible
source of inspiration. Splendid human behavior, from righteous to
rigid, charity to chastity, determination to deceit, stratagem to
stupidity, nobility to nosophobia, wonder to wallowing, vanity to
validation, courage to crusading, jaundice to jealousy; it’s
just hard to raise only an eyebrow over all this beauty…
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| The last few years I work often in relief’s.
The clear lines of the drawings are being translated into gently sloping
surfaces. Often I have an insatiable urge to walk up to a piece of art in a museum, glance over to see the guard isn’t looking and then quickly stroke the work. The idea that the revered artist also touched that surface, stood in that spot, makes me somehow truly take possession of the image. In churches for instance, you can come across a bronze statue standing in a niche. For centuries, churchgoers have rubbed the big toe, that just sticks out of the niche, for good luck, and it now shines like polished brass. For me that’s a sign of the punters taking possession. Any artist should be proud of such wear and tear. Some time ago I was awarded the Royal Grant for Painting by the Dutch queen, for my first relief’s. And although I had to deploy all my persuasive powers, I was able to break down the barrier between art and the public a little bit, even for the queen. Though she didn’t want to “set a bad example”, she compassionately stroked the work, or dare I say caressed… Needless to say, I haven’t washed the work since. Serge Verheugen |