Takeover #176 Marie Reintjes
︎ by Leslie King
Marie Reintjes: Instagram / Website
#176 (06/09 - 10/09, 2021) written by Anisa Demirci and Cheyenne Pattiwaël
Playful, bright colors, strong compositions, vivid brush strokes and mundane-yet-otherworldly images. Marie Reintjes creates paintings that celebrate the art of painting. Freely and intuitively she further explores and develops this visual language.
Marie studied Fine Art at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and graduated in 2013. She paints in a way that moves between figuration and abstraction. The paint plays an important role, you can see how her hand has moved over the canvas. The subjects range from captivating landscapes to common objects like traffic lights and everything in between. She considers her work ‘largely autobiographical’, as it is all seen and recorded by her, therefore being part of her life.
“I start with a photo. I take quick snapshots to capture things and moments, to register everything, to keep it with me. When I take the photo, I can already see a painting in it. Everything has the potential and is worthy to be painted.”
The photo is a starting point and during the process she lets her intuition take over to create the image. This intuitive way of painting is like a sense for balance or harmony; a sense of/for what is needed.
“You could compare it to what a trained musician does. It’s like improvising, but on the canvas. Being able to do that is the result a lot of practice in both painting and viewing things in the world as possible paintings.”
Expanding her visual language keeps Marie fascinated. Over time her conception of painting keeps changing.
"I am still learning the language of painting and hopefully I´ll never be done (learning)."
For a long time she has had inflexible views about painting, but “the nice thing about questioning and challenging my own views is an ever-increasing freedom”, she says. It is precisely this challenge that is very important to Marie, in order to keep growing as an artist and to maintain that playfulness.
“The way something is painted is more important than the subject. I like it when my eyes keep moving around in the image. And I want there to be a kind of tension. The atmosphere is important, it’s what the painting breathes.”
During this week’s Take Over Marie will show us images from the studio, her workspace, her work process and details of her work. Next to that, we will be seeing a throwback to her graduation and how she has developed from then. Plenty to look forward to!
“I hope that pleasure radiates from my paintings, that there is life in it.”
Marie studied Fine Art at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and graduated in 2013. She paints in a way that moves between figuration and abstraction. The paint plays an important role, you can see how her hand has moved over the canvas. The subjects range from captivating landscapes to common objects like traffic lights and everything in between. She considers her work ‘largely autobiographical’, as it is all seen and recorded by her, therefore being part of her life.
“I start with a photo. I take quick snapshots to capture things and moments, to register everything, to keep it with me. When I take the photo, I can already see a painting in it. Everything has the potential and is worthy to be painted.”
The photo is a starting point and during the process she lets her intuition take over to create the image. This intuitive way of painting is like a sense for balance or harmony; a sense of/for what is needed.
“You could compare it to what a trained musician does. It’s like improvising, but on the canvas. Being able to do that is the result a lot of practice in both painting and viewing things in the world as possible paintings.”
Expanding her visual language keeps Marie fascinated. Over time her conception of painting keeps changing.
"I am still learning the language of painting and hopefully I´ll never be done (learning)."
For a long time she has had inflexible views about painting, but “the nice thing about questioning and challenging my own views is an ever-increasing freedom”, she says. It is precisely this challenge that is very important to Marie, in order to keep growing as an artist and to maintain that playfulness.
“The way something is painted is more important than the subject. I like it when my eyes keep moving around in the image. And I want there to be a kind of tension. The atmosphere is important, it’s what the painting breathes.”
During this week’s Take Over Marie will show us images from the studio, her workspace, her work process and details of her work. Next to that, we will be seeing a throwback to her graduation and how she has developed from then. Plenty to look forward to!
“I hope that pleasure radiates from my paintings, that there is life in it.”