It may be hard to believe that these landscapes are contained each within an approximately 10×10 inches frame, but the reproductions before you are not very far from the actual size. I think that there are two different consequences to consider as a result: first, the artist creates a credible illusion of a generous spatial reserve and second, he leaves you wanting for more, and of a bigger size — and the first condition indicates that it is within his artistic range. And by “more” I also mean zooming both in and out, though some pieces satisfy that wish at least partially. I can’t help recalling of some of Ivan Shishkin’s works when studying Jiddje’s, though the differences outweigh the similarities.
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Jiddje Straatsma is a Dutch painter and graphic designer who works in a wide range of genres, including landscape, still life and portraits, and publishes his work on the Internet on this website and this blog. Jiddje is outspoken about his hard work ethic and demanding self criticism; I would like to bring to your attention how his paintings oscillate between realism and impressionism, different pieces careening towards either style, in a way reflecting this struggle. In traditional terms his artwork offers soft impressionism, considerably tamed, or “civilized” by realist figuration — reflecting some of John Singer Sargent’s ambitions. Similarly to the American master, one can identify in Jiddje’s work a search towards a unique personal adaptation of the two trends, seeking an individual original coalescence. That is not an easy task even without considering the competition, and Jiddje holds his own.
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I see these images as engravings of dreams. Pixelated and disintegrating dreams, they morph one into the other and then dissipate, dot by dot, until awakening. The pieces in front of us capture the last most vivid vision. In fact, this brings me to the notion that one possible way to recall dreams forgotten right after the awakening moment could be by dots — a simple and elegant solution! The lack of lines deprives the viewer of a continuous visual reference, hampering focus; as a result the paintings appear to be covered by a gauze (made of the innumerable microscopic white dots), which further enhances the dreamlike quality.
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Ascender’s collages present liquid and mystical, often downright unreal surrealism (I know how strange that sounds) with consistently incorporated urban insignia and allusions. It would probably be correct to say that the latter is organized in the manner of the former — and so the artist may be communicating her take on modern life, proponing both chaos and hierarchy. Ascender composes an original visual idiom when intermixing those. Because the art form included contemporary icons and symbols from its inception, composition and organization have taken on extra creative value — and the artist discovered her own language while maximally exploiting it. The result is a series of captivating works of art.
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Jacquelyn L. Berl (also known under the artistic monicker “Ascender“, see more works on her website and blog) is a versatile and prolific artist with a strong drive towards finding an original signature style. She creates art with a seemingly unlimited assortment of media, fusing various schools and trends into a conglomerate body of work. I would categorize her style as gravitating towards the surreal, often with fabulous qualities; it characterizes in various degrees her mixed media works, collages, ink, watercolor and oil paintings. To my mind Berl achieves best results with the more combinative efforts, and while the more traditional artwork exhibits engaging pristine and figurative qualities, it is in the more complex and “dirty” pieces that her creative potential finds a unique outlet.
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