Shreds of dreams eternilized on canvas
The world of artist Jan Aanstoot (1948, Wierden) is one in which two great passions, namely France and painting, take an important place. When Jan is not spending his free time at home in his studio, that is his atticroom, one can find him in his studio in the center of Paris, where he lets himself be inspired by the art and culture which the city has to offer. It is this atmosphere of art and creation which lures and stimulates Jan Aanstoot to picture the ideas revealed to him while staying there. To Jan the French scenery, the cultivation, the music have always been an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Earlier paintings show these influences, yet in a more figurative fashion. Meanwhile an obvious development from figurative composition through abstraction, in which landscapes and human figures as principal subjects remain more or less visible, to an abstract manner of painting has taken place in a relatively short period.
Jan Aanstoot obtained his certificate at the Academy for Visual Arts in Arnhem. He also attended The Secondary Teaching Treaning Course A and B. However teaching art and art history-lessons at a high school and providing paintingcourses took up quite some time. Therefore he decided approximately ten years ago to work parttime as a teacher, resulting in more time to paint.
Initialy Jan started his carreer as a painter using water-colours. After experimenting with other materials and techniques such as acrylic paint and matterpaintings, he eventually rediscovered his youthful passion; the oils. Especially the emotion, the scratches, the stains, the movements of the brushes and the use of colours determine the outcome of the painting. ‘The sensation I experience at the moment I’m standing before my easel, that’s what I want to express in my work.’ The paintings presume a strong resemblance to expressionist movements, while at the same time action paint-like elements and in some cases texts are shown. The technique of applying layers of various materials are particularly shown on the smaller canvasses. The transparency in his work, which Jan was praised for by his teachers at the Academy, is combined with the scumbling quality of oilpaint.
The material Jan paints on, varies from cardboard to linen, the size from small to big. Some pictures are a combination of a somewhat sober image with poetry, while other paintings almost burst into a pure furnace of colourful flames. Other canvasses seem to recall shreds of dreams and keep drawing the spectator’s attention. Jan’s art allows everyone the freedom to fantasize at will. When his work tickles the imagination of people, the painter has reached his goal. ‘For me it is not the issue that people observe my work and see what I wanted to paint. Let the individual imaginative power do all the work. The fantasies which my paintings evoke, are at least as interessting. Ultimately the eye of the beholder finishes the painting.’ It is for this reason his paintings are mostly untitled. A title influences the observer and forces him to feel he has to discover something in the paiting.
‘A painting has to touch you personally, so that it can become a part of your existance, a part of your story.’
Esther Kruikemeijer, 2004