Mirthe Blussé lives and works between Amsterdam en Barcelona
La peinture comme affirmation de la vie, de sa vraie nature.
– Etel Adnan
Mirthe started her studies at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2002: a long cherished dream after successfully completing a law degree. She got accepted in both the Visual Arts and the Graphic Design department. After some hesitation, she chose the latter, as she did not see herself as the archetype artist who wakes up every morning with an inner urge to make art.
How different is that now: Never had she imagined that she would spend almost every day in her atelier, working like a monk and completely in her element.
Observation. Research. Abstraction. Creation. Experimentation. Those were the pillars of The Hague’s art academy where the influence of the Bauhaus is still present. For Mirthe, an observer and experimenter by nature, it proved to be an incredibly inspiring learning environment. She graduated with a project in several disciplines.
Mirthe’s work is characterized by an abstract, minimal composition in combination with a powerful, spontaneous intervention and a balanced colour palette. Her creative process involves extensive research, but in the end it is strongly based on intuition.
Her inspiration comes from daily observations and emotions. Through a large sketching process she tries to get to their essence by filtering out the noise:
‘My work is both question and answer for me. I ask myself: “What do I wish to say?” and “What do I wish not to say? What do I leave out” In that sense, my work is quite meditative. I prefer to use an abstract visual language. I give a hint about the meaning in the title, but that’s as far as I’ll go. I try to create work that remain open to the viewer’s interpretation.’
Usually, Mirthe paints horizontally on the floor, so she can use her whole body to create the right movements with the brush or oil stick.
‘I paint, but actually it feels more like drawing, really. What fascinates me in this way of working, is the directness and the fragility of the human trace through movement.’
Her works transmit a sense of balance, their poetic titles allow space for reflection. They invite us – if only for a moment – to make contact with our imagination. Quite a luxury in a world full of noise and obsessed with speed.