Selfies from the Bijlmerbajes
SELFIES FROM THE BIJLMERBAJES – 2019
When I moved into my studio in the Bijlmerbajes in January 2019, I decided to begin each workday with a quickly made (target time one hour) painted self-portrait from the mirror. This series reflects that decision.
My paint box at the time contained about thirty-two tubes of paint. Using a random number app, I let fate determine which four colors I got to work with each morning. Thus I was always surprised, and challenged to express my state of mind each time with a random set of four tubes of paint.
Those four tubes did not go back into the box after the painting was completed – the next set of four was drawn from the rest. I went on like this until the box was empty, then I started over with all the paint.
The other rules of the ‘game’ were: I was not allowed to start over or discard one, nor was I allowed to touch it after completion. So they are nice and raw; made in one go and straight from the easel to the wall.
Sometime during the first month I figured I would go to 81 – all’s well that ends – and 184 days after the first one I painted the last one. Gradually, a plan had formed of what the ending should look like, and that became an expo at the Bijlmerbajes prison in October 2019 and a book.
The Selfies are painted in oil on paper, measure 33 cm by 41 cm, and are for sale for €350 each. Numbered and dated on the front, signed on the back.
The first edition of the book sold out; a second printing (ISBN 9789083235516) appeared in 2022, and is available upon request.
