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Icons of our collective memory (Acrylic on 300 canvases)

As an immigrant I got intrigued by the phenomenon ‘collective memory’.
A while after moving from the Netherlands to New Zealand I realised that a large piece of my personality was built on the history I shared with people I had grown up with. For example; jokes. Most jokes are based on shared knowledge between you and your audience, without you even thinking to check this beforehand. Usually, only the most subtle visual or verbal clue is needed to understand what is meant. Of course; that is the power of jokes. Explaining them is destroying them, right?
Simply think of the favourite TV series you may have seen in your younger years. For example; Imitating a specific voice or phrase from a character might be a way of connecting with a friend who used to watch the show too. We can do this sort of things without thinking too hard about it.
Although in a new country this kind of cultural reference points had become useless, at least the wider and international part is still applicable.

Long story short:
Our collective memory contains thousands of faces, names, brands, objects, scandals, disasters and victories. Like I said above; you often only need a small clue to understand what is meant. Two musical notes heard … and you can sing along to the song. Just some initials could be enough for certain celebs or brands. A low resolute image of a security camera can direct you to the criminal. Or to the hero.

No detailed image is needed to recognise the tv test card.
Although you probably need to be born before 1980.

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Bluethumber since July 2018*I started painting quite late. In my late twenties, when I worked as an accountant assistant, I decided to take another path in life. So, I picked up some books from the library about oil painting techniques and I started to create.I was not involved in the regular ‘art world’, I didn’t know any artists and I had no peers from art school. My simple plan was to create ‘a stock’ and than show them to art galleries.Not long after my first modest exhibition in a small gallery, my friend and I moved to a house with a large old industrial space, located in a village. We spend 100 litres of wall paint and opened the doors. Gallery ‘Van Lubeck‘ was born.Beside showing my own work, we exhibited fellow artists every 6 weeks. A few times a year we organised a wine tastery to attract people. I slowly got a peek into the world of artists of my era.*In 2005 we moved from the Netherlands to New Zealand. In New Zealand nobody had ever heard of me and I had to start all over. The funny thing was I suddenly had become an ‘international artist’, only because of the fact that I lived in another country. I still exhibited in Europe and got several exhibitions in Australia. And in the meantime we travelled a lot.*In 2017 we moved again. New Zealand was nice, but having grown up in Europe, we started to miss the big city.Now I’m living and working in NSW. Sydney is nearby, but Maitland has the perfect mix of being a vibrant city while having the feel of community a village offers.My recently created oil paintings are all about 'individualism'. Most of the people can associate themselves with one of the trees in the paintings. The trees are performing like actors. Every person is gifted with at least one special thing in life, so you easily can personify yourself with one of the actors. As the brave one, the cheeky one, or the lucky one. But also if you don't take the titles too literally, you can see the solo acting tree as a leading one in a group, a showing one in a circle of viewers or a guiding one in front of a public. In some way, we all are the one. Even if it is for just once.