A B O U T - D O M E S T I C U S - C O L L E C T I O N
The Domesticus collection is a series of domestic still life scenes based on daily life, created during lockdown. The paintings are in a dream-like state. The work has an appearance of nativity and there is the acceptance of the artist that the painting exists outside the realm of reality and not attempting to rival reality. There is also an element of the unresolved and unfinished, giving a sense of unease. The paintings are painted in traditional oil painting technique of glazing in layers up to twenty six layers. The artist uses the techniques to her own aesthetic and has a contemporary approach with influences of today’s mass pop culture and cartoons. The colours are based on colour theories of the renaissance called ‘technicolour’, a super natural colour. The artists also makes use of the technique called ‘Couleur rompue’, translated from french, broken colour, this technique is to place colours next to each other and not mixing them, allowing for extra contrast in the painting.
Marianne applies the techniques and esthetic language of the Dutch Masters of the Golden age. The technique is a long process of painting thin glazes of oil paint with sixteen up to thirty six glazes. Each stage the painting moves forward and gets rebalanced, the artist is hereby having to make many choices, giving the artworks incredible depth and a unique appearance. Marianne refers to the techniques and themes and compositions of the Dutch Masters of the Golden Age. A great time of prosperity and having plentiful luxuries whilst at the same time an era of uncertainty, unrest and conflict.
The paintings of Marianne are a succession of dreams, images, ideas, emotions and sensations. The dream state is something that fascinates and disturbs at the same time, usually occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Marianne likes to suggest that at the same time dreams represent hope, change and excitement. Influenced by the surrealist artist Rene Magriet, who quoted , ‘Ceci n'est pas une pipe’, recognising that art by divination exists outside reality. The collection reflects on times of isolation, showing empty spaces and isolated vignettes, expressing melancholy. The paintings are left unfinished and abstracted, devering from reality. The perspective and points of views are warped and do not match up. The fruits portrayed are falling or scattered, representing transcendence, the feeling of turning is amplified by the bright blazing sun and colours. The fruit appears to be perfectly ripe and sweet and about to go rotten. From a stage of thriving and abundance to being corrupted and rotten, implying that good and bad appear not too far apart. The blue skies represent truth, freedom, with fleeting clouds that are morphing into new forms, indicating uncertainty and a reminder of life’s impermanence. A fly appears into the artworks, unwanted, another reminder and symbol in art history of rot and wasting away. Referring to many hours alone in the studio with a fly in her company. Marianne is currently exploring the techniques and themes further and plans to expand the subject in larger formats.