ARTIST JORIS GRAAF
Interview with visual artist Joris Graaf
The artist (born The Hague, 1980) who is self taught, seeks to create tension by forming a synthesis of opposites: noise and melody, order and chaos, growth and decay. His work revolves around themes such as loneliness, fear and depression. Music and the associated visuals, such as album covers, are a strong influence. Joris was selected for New Dutch Photography Talent 2019 and FRESH EYES (European photography talent) by GUP magazine.
Tell us about yourself Joris,
I spent a significant part of my youth travelling around the world with my family.
After moving back to the Netherlands, I studied geology and worked in industry for over a decade before focusing completely on making art a couple of years ago. I was lucky enough to be selected by GUP magazine for a couple of publications about up-and-coming photographic talents in the Netherlands and Europe and that really provided a stimulus for me to continue on this path. I currently live and work in Wateringen, near the Hague.
Your greatest inspirations or influences?
As a music lover, my early inspirations were band photography and album cover artwork, but I quickly discovered that I had a strong tendency to make abstract photos. When I started to post my work on Instagram, I discovered the world of contemporary abstract painting and it completely
blew me away and heavily influenced my work since then. Music is still a big influence though, as are my own emotions and memories.
Tell us a bit about your creative process? Work you are most proud of, things you are looking forward to in 2021?
To create my digital photographic artworks, I start off with either searching for or creating a scene to photograph. Sometimes I randomly go to all kinds of places with my camera, looking for interesting forms and textures that inspire me. On other occasions, I choose to visit locations that have some special significance to me or my family's history.
I'm incredibly nostalgic.. And when I decide to build my own 'scene' to photograph, I do so in my studio with all kinds of material that I have lying about: wire, tape, paint, plastic, prints, etc. I typically use multi-exposure techniques when photographing any scene, because I love the confusion and complexity that they allow me to create. After collecting the photographic images, I spend a lot of time processing these in a software package called 'Lightroom'. I've been doing this for a while now, but during 2020 I started to get
the nagging feeling that I should try a more hands-on approach to creating art and so I started experimenting with collage, cutting up my own photographic prints and arranging them manually on a hardboard
support. I'm very proud of some of the results that I managed to get this way and I look forward to see where this will go in 2021.
How has this year changed your creativity or how you see the art industry changing moving forward?
2020 has been a difficult year for everyone and unfortunately I also had a couple of exhibitions cancelled, but it didn't have a large influence on me creatively. I had less time to work, because the kids were
frequently at home, but my family has been incredibly lucky that no-one got ill. I know that there are many who weren't so lucky. Because of the COVID restrictions, there has been a significant shift in
the art world to move online and I think that this will continue in the near future. I have mixed feelings about this, because there is nothing more rewarding for an artist than having a physical exhibition in a gallery somewhere with actual people to talk to and have a glass of wine with.
Anything else you'd like to share?
I want to wish everyone a healthy, safe and successful 2021.
