Authorship of the Past

The Past is the Author of the Present. We cannot go back, we can only see the result. When we walk through ruins, we're not taken back 1,000 years. We only see traces of the past. The Authorship of the Past is a series of paintings I did a few years ago to convey this sense of the past in the present. All the paintings in the series are repaintings of my earlier works (from my student days). I used an trowel instead of a brush. It was as if the old painting was choosing its own future image. The new layers of paint held the texture and slipped through in some places, leaving a piece of the old painting visible. I didn't feel like a free and omnipotent creator, but like ruthless and mechanical Time and on the other hand like an almost helpless observer of the changes. The only thing I was free to choose was colours. I wanted there to be a colours' dialogue between the old and the new.