The Canvas | Eelco Maan
01 November 2011
Eelco Maan (1962), originally educated in photography and graphic design, is working as a professional artist since 1994. His work is frequently exhibited in various galleries and renowned Dutch art fairs such as the Open Art Fair (2010), the Primavera Art Salon (2008) and the Holland Art Fair (2006). Eelco believes that you shouldn't force inspiration but to allow yourself to be free in the moment and allow yourself an open window for inspiration to come sailing through.
What is your earliest artistic memory?
Discovering the beauty of music and poetry and for the first time in my life seeing abstract paintings at the Boymans Museum in Rotterdam around the age of 13.
What is the most exciting thing you have ever done?
My first show in a rock and roll band at the age of 16. It must have sounded awful, I was scared shitless but I’m still proud of it.
What has been your biggest mistake?
Looking back, all my “mistakes”, if you can call them that, eventually where the greatest teachers in my life so I guess I don’t believe in mistakes.
Where is your favourite place, anywhere in the world?
Home, here in the beautiful rural landscape of Overijssel, Holland
What is your favourite book?
All my life I loved to read so by now I must have read thousands of books from Tolkien’s “The Lord of the rings” to Brian Green’s “The elegant universe” (about quantum physics and string theory). There are so many great books that it is hard to name a favourite.
In my younger days I was swept away by the Salinger ‘s “Cather in the Rye” and Kerouac’s “On the road”. I love all of Herman Hesse and especially ”Narcissus and Goldmund” because it deals with the Jungian union of polar opposites like art and science, nature en logic, flesh and spirit. It is a theme that transcends all time.
I love “The stonor Eagles” by William Horwood for its description of the struggles of an artist’s life. For anyone spiritually interested I recommend Jed McKenna”s “Spiritual enlightenment, the damnedest thing”. Very well written, very funny and instructive.
And on anything concerning love, read the poetry of Rumi:
The one who has not had a taste of love
Is but a piece of wood or stone to God.
Love extracts water from stones;
Love removes rust from mirrors.
infidelity seeks war, faith peace;
Love sets fire to war and peace alike.
Love opens its mouth in the sea of the heart;
It devours the two worlds like a whale.
Like a lion, love knows no ruse;
It does not change from a lion to a fox.
What would you scribble on a wall of world’s greatest quotes?
“Life is what happens while we are making other plans.” (John Lennon)
”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” (Nelson Mandela)
Who would you like to meet and what question would you ask?
The Buddha. I would ask him how the hell he got enlightened and how that feels.
What would you define as ‘success’?
To discover and follow your deepest passion in life and live by it and be able to financially support yourself with it.
What is your favourite art gallery or historical building and why?
That would be one of the galleries that represent my work: Gallery “In de oude school” in the Netherlands. The exhibition-space is harmonious, spacious, well lighted and every exhibition is always beautifully presented and well balanced with much care and love for detail. The gallery represents a number of (inter) nationally acclaimed artists of which at all times an up-to-date selection of artworks is available in stock.
What is your all time favourite movie?
A Space Odyssey by Stanly Kubrick. The opening sequence is stunning and all the space stuff is, even after more than 40 years, incredible to watch. And the idea (by SF writer Arthur C. Clarke) of the mysterious, obviously artificial, artifact buried on the moon watching through the millennia over the earth and mankind, is awesome. You can watch the movie as a spectacle of sound and vision but it also makes you wonder about space and time and consciousness.
If you could own any piece of artwork, what piece would it be?
“Rosy fingered dawn at Louse Point” by Willem de Kooning. I saw it for the first time for real at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag back in the 90-ties, before I truly started my art career and was immediately inspired and blown away by it. Although I didn’t realize it then, I guess that moment has been the starting point of finding my true passion.
If you could start your life all over, what would you do differently?
Maybe I would like to discover the blessings of painting earlier in my life. But than I would miss all the fun of playing guitar in a rock ‘n roll band (which I did of and on during my twenties) and a lot of other crazy things I did before getting sort of serious with my art business.
What has been your best ever purchase?
The house I live in for almost 8 years now. It’s a huge 300 year old farmhouse surrounded by great oak trees, situated amidst pastures and hedgerows and sometimes in the afternoon you can see deer grazing in the distance. I completely rebuild the former stables so now in the back of the house I have some 200-m2 studio and exhibition space.
What is your favourite food?
Italian
What is your favourite season of the year and why?
Autumn and especially October. Because of the crisp air and the long and lovely golden light.
Who is your favourite artist and why?
Eugene Brands, a Dutch painter who was a member of COBRA for a little while. After his COBRA period he gradually let go of figuration and started painting great lyrical abstract paintings full of light, space and movement.
What are you most afraid of?
Losing my health.
What is your most prized possession?
My life experience and my drive and curiosity to keep learning and growing. (And, if you can own an animal: my dogs)
What life lesson do you always stand by?
The Golden Rule:
One should treat others, as one would like others to treat oneself.
If you had to give art students today some advice, what would it be?
The way I make art is not something you can learn like, say, a computer program. It's much more intuitive, and it can be confront ting, even very frustrating at times. Time and time again I have to find my own personal translation from soul to vision to matter...
Explore and see where it leads you. Enjoy the process. See painting as a way of going through life. Don't get stuck on results right away, but follow the process, stick to what feels and looks good and try to avoid dead ends. Learn from mistakes but be gentle. Give it some time to learn and understand the material you work with. Take photographs of the process and learn where you went off the track.
Inspiration is for amateurs. To be alive is all the inspiration you need and to make a good painting is mostly the result of hard work and a lot of dedication. Rather paint daily for a few hours than once a week for 24. And don't lay too much emphasis on materials and technique. Don't think too much about it all, it 's in your hands and eyes and body, not in your mind. Something wants to manifest itself through you into what you make.
And last but not least; be organized. As a professional artist you are also an entrepeneur.
Where on the web can we find you?
Blog http://eelcomaan.wordpress.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eelco-Maan-Visual-Artist/144101338972367
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