There’s a gorgeous quality captured by Stefan Bleekrode in the mundane moments of travel.
Most of my paintings can best be described as snapshots of things I’ve seen when travelling or just going through my everyday routine, small bits of beauty in familiar settings. Often they come in through the backdoor, and after a while I turn these ideas, combined with a good bit of my own imagination into fully worked out paintings. The fascination for a particular idea that compels me to undertake the task of composing these compositions is entirely subject to the emotional value and scenery of the initial idea. Most of my paintings are set in the everyday (sub)urban settings of North America (particularly the North East) and London. Not only do I feel attracted to the (urban) landscape or the particular 19th century architecture, conveying a mood of lost glory and teetering on the brink of decay, above all it’s the clear crisp quality of the light adding an almost surreal and cinematographic dimension to these parts. Light is the one single thing many of my paintings revolve about. In the absence of daylight I greatly rejoice as well in working out the intricate patterns of artificial light in deserted streets at night.
(via Faith Is Torment)
Travel Paintings by Stefan Bleekrode
