Dutch artist Peter Klashorst is presenting his latest exhibition Lust for Life in his own home.
Question: Lust for Life is largely made up of portraits. How do you approach painting a face?
Answer: I am trying to paint as naturalistic as possible but it ends up totally crazy. If you look long enough into somebody’s skin you see blues, you see greens, you see yellows; you see all kinds of colours that really don’t officially exist in the skin. Usually the colour is made from the blood and veins and skin. You could say I’m a sick person. I really try to do my best, but this is really how I see it.
Q: Lust for Life is on show at your home. How do you feel about turning your private space into a public gallery?
A: I used to hate birthday parties. I used to crawl under the table. All these people are coming for you, and you have to stick your head out. It’s like showing your c--- or something. It’s an invasion of your private space and painting, of course, is very personal, and in your open house it makes it even more so. If it’s in a museum you can walk away from it, there’s some distance between you and the visitors, but here, my bedroom is here, it’s like showing yourself totally naked and it’s terrible. You cannot run away.
Q: Your nude pictures have become a prominent aspect of your career, do you feel this overshadows your other work?
A: It is exaggerated, I think, when people put too much emphasis on it. For myself, I’m always interested in portraits, but it seems if I’m doing nudes then everyone goes crazy. Sometimes it bothers me because, in Holland especially, when I do an interview it is always about sex.
Lust for Life is on at #29 Street 130 for the next two weeks.
