‘Blending Archives’ Diana Blok & Pieter Bijwaard

In the project Blending Archives Diana Blok’s photographs and Pieter Bijwaard’s drawings show the result of a poetic experiment on synergy. The two obstinate artists opened their archives for each other and intuitively combined sixty drawings and photographs, creating a single entity with a new meaning. The process began in 2007. Pieter Bijwaard’s drawings witness a silent force emerging from his monastic quality of dedication in search of essence and purity of content and technique. Their diversity in meaning, focus and techniques are extensive and complex yet undoubtably from the hand of the same artist. Since the early seventies his drawings are mostly made on paper size 32.5 x 25 cm.

 

Diana Blok’s photographs created in her studio and during her extensive travels hold the pain, pleasure and spirit of the human condition. Her search for identity, gender, roots and rootlessness are an ongoing topic in her work. The elegant balance between confrontation and vulnerability which she manages to combine is an exceptional quality throughout her oeuvre.

 

The work of both artists is characterized by a broad interest in a wide range of visual research. Change and transitions are visible elements in the oeuvre of both artists, while intuition and silent observation play and essential role. Their art is for both of them their most important instrument for the exploration of their inner space. By combining two different media they show the extension of an independent artwork into a new meaning thru the context in which it is placed. Abstract drawings blending into the realistic world of photography forming a new dialogue.

 

total of 30 combinations in edition of 6 size: 50 x 70 cm