Sorgeloos

‘Sorgeloos/voortgedreven door Poeur  en de mond stijf gesloten voor het kaasje met prinsenvlaggetje dat Armoede hem wil voeren gaat Sorgeloos voort op zijn weg’.

The image is based on a print of the prodigal son which I reworked into this painting of 250 x 200 cms. The prodigal son in the print has a label which calls him Sorgeloos, what can be translated as worry- or careless. The Poeur-figure in my painting has the visual characteristics of the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. His style of governing is more a kind of company-management without any trace of visionary or idealistic principles. So I associated the term Poeur with the French ‘peur’ and the English ‘poor’, later I learned that Poeur stands for ‘power’, but I decided to use it anyway in my interpretation of the word. The little man bothering the big artist ( that’s me in the role of Sorgeloos) is labeled ‘Armoede’, and that is the Dutch word for poverty. His face is modelled on that of the party-ideologue of the right wing PVV-party Martin Bosman, a man known for his hatred of the cultural class and internationalism. Artists in particular .The cheese he tries to feed Sorgeloos is decorated with a little flag. The PVV likes to flash this orange-white-blue “prinsenvlag” as a reminder of Dutch national greatness, a time when Holland was culturally homogenous and free of foreign defilement. Sorgeloos presses his lips together and continues on his chosen path unbothered.

Sorgeloos, 250 x 200 cm, acrylic-  and oilpaint on linnen, 2014