Tineke Fischer, visual artist

I was born in a village in West Friesland where my parents ran a flower bulb business. The family consisted of eight children. Besides working hard, a lot of music was made in the family.

From 1999 to 2004, I studied at the Minerva Academy in Groningen. For my graduation, I chose the Baroque period. Deformation in the arts continues to intrigue me to this day. Charles Baudelaire was a poet who embraced the Baroque, as did the painter Peter Paul Rubens. Both are great sources of inspiration for me.

How do I see that deformation in my work? Creating your own reality from emptiness; reality exists for me only through something else, namely in the form of a work of art, a poem, or a piece of music. A work of art is - just like reality - an illusion, but on a different level. It walks its own path. Art = more than thinking. Soul, intellect, and passion are the ingredients of the artwork.

Which path do I walk?

Before I begin, I create a concept. My studies make me decide whether I want to continue with this concept. However, along the way, the idea can completely take a different direction. The idea goes its own way, and at some point, a result may emerge that is also a surprise to myself. When I work, it feels as if I am outside of myself. And as if I feel forces sending me from another planet. Music plays a significant role during the development of an idea (spiritual additions are language, poetry, music). Additionally, I work with ink, charcoal, egg tempera, marble powder, casting clay, porcelain, batik, textile paint, film images.

The poetry of Charles Baudelaire, which you really have to read twice but is rich in its words - truly beautiful - I do not want to withhold from you, as here are a few quotes from Les Fleurs du Mal:

‘Slow Lethe water - Rubens - court where every interference quiets,
Verse bed of flesh, for love not the place,
But where the swirling life still comes together
As in the air and in the sea the sea.’

‘Da Vinci, Leonardo - mirror, deep and dark,
In which an Angel appears on the shadow side
- her delicate smile full of mysterious listening -
of pine tree and glacier, borders of her land.’

For me as a contemporary artist, history plays a significant role. I want to use and relive history. I want to hold up a mirror to people to show them what they have been guilty of. Reliving and placing it in this time is an important message for me as a visual artist.

The soul of the artist speaks.
Tineke Fischer