Hans Oosterom

HANS OOSTEROM

I was born (1945) in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where I also grew up. After my studies in sociology I worked for years within the newspaper industry, developed new companies and from 2000 on I practiced as a psychotherapist. Beside my jobs I was creative: double bass in a jazz orchestra, slumping and fusing with glass, photo-ceramics, and bronzes. I lived in Amsterdam, for 12 years in Paris, and after my retirement in 2010 the fisherman’s village Bruinisse in Zeeland became my home. Here I enjoy creative freedom resulting in works with my own typical signature.

Throughout the centuries artists have been early adaptors of new technical developments. The first users of photography were painters; photographers as such didn’t exist yet. Engraving was used to decorate swords.

Oosterom – autodidact – works within this tradition, with new modern techniques. He uses digital techniques to create, in numerous little steps, his feeling and impression of ‘the reality’ of a place and atmosphere. Less colours and less details make room for what really matters.

Specially developed pigment inks and fine art papers match the radiance and atmosphere of the printed work. Sometimes, when a work needs more brilliance, it is sublimated on aluminum.

Hans Oosterom’s work is colourful and impressionistic and stimulates the imagination. Part of my work is symbolic, like Maria van Aleppo.

My reflections on this work: “Part of our Europe, which is based on Christian values, seems rather reluctant towards refugees of war. This developed in me the picture of a haughty Maria, who from the heights of a cathedral overlooks a destroyed Aleppo. So occupied with the child in her arms, she is unable to reach out to the refugees. In other words: we are so occupied by and focused on our own culture that we cannot perceive anymore what really is going on outside of it, neither understand what is asked from us. The word ‘welcome’ however completely changes the picture and now you can see Maria as a beacon for the same refugees.”

Another example of my symbolic work is The Innocence. Innocence always disappears when physical or verbal sharpness is practiced.

A more comforting work is Low Tide, a folded triptych, with the following accompanying words.

Wide understanding narrows
Low tide broadens the beach
Walk your low tide

Most of the time I strongly abstract images, leaving only the essence, like in this panorama called Paysage lointain.

Flamboyant works are no exception, like the triptych The Sail Company, of which the first part is shown here. The colourful pallet conjures up nostalgia for craftsmanship. The complete work can be seen – high as in a church window – in a sail making company.

 My interpretation of ‘Carpe Diem’ is the work Moonlight. “Don’t wait for sunrise from the west, whilst standing in full moonlight”

Recently a series of my landscapes was exhibited in the Remonstrant Church in Sommelsdijk (NL).

On a regular base I participate in exhibitions and more of my work can be seen on my website www.hansoosterom.com . I am a member of the Zeeland Art Society.