„You can see this as trash. But the way
I look at it I really can see the treasure
in it. And I like to make something beautiful
out of it.”
Are these works by old Dutch Masters?
Or is this modern art?
A dress made from bubble wrap.
A cover for a computer screen that serves
as a scarf.
Suzanne Jongmans uses what other people usually
throw away for her art. She hordes all kinds
of packaging in her studio in Breda. She thinks
that it should be recycled or even upcycled
into other goods.
„Could be a hat? Could be a vase? I don´t
know!“
„When I see this I immediately see a head
scarf and when I see this, this could be a
sleeve for me. And when I see this this could
be a collar on somebodys head. Like this.“
Jongmans is using catkin for her latest project.
She not only recycles old packaging, but also
works with natural materials. Her first step
is to design the work. She's fascinated by
detail.
„If you look closer, and I like if one looks
closer, if you really pay attention then you
can see the details. And that is true for
most things in life. So for instance these
little furry things. It looks like furr but
it´s just the little cutches??? from the
nature from the branch I found last spring.
I don´t know I´m just moulding because I
know how to cut patterns, I know how to do
that. But I love the direct way I work with
the fabric and put it on the mannequin and
see what it looks like and then take it from
there.
As a child, Jongmans was fascinated by her
parents' art books. To this day, she's inspired
by Flemish art of the 15th and 16th centuries
-- especially the works by Rogier van der
Weyden and Jan van Eyck. But she doesn't just
reproduce their works, she actually reinterprets
them like van Eyck's 1434 "Arnolfini Portrait"
- using polystyrene beads...
She also sometimes uses plastic sheeting.
„I want to have a dialogue with those who
inspired me and then make my own story out
of it. So I like the fun of it that it looks
like it but then when you look closer then
you can see that it´s an artwork from this
time. So it´s a little bit of this time and
a little bit of the old times.“
Here she's preparing for a photo shoot. She's
transformed styrofoam into a halo. She first
started experimenting with packaging in 2007.
It really was a coincidence, because I was
looking for material to make a medieval cloak
out of. And then I couldn´t find something
that had that material characteristics. So
then I had a piece of foam laying around in
which I had a wrapped artwork in. So and then
I just made a sample out of it and it was
beautiful on the mannequin. So I thought ‘hey!’
a new idea is born. So, can I show you?
This is the very first piece I made.
And it´s very beautiful against the skin
and that is why I started using it. Because
when you buy a product then it is often covered
in this foam material like a protecting shield
because it´s a breakable thing. So when I
put this on my model it´s somehow translates
to my picture some of that vulnerability.
Suzanne Jongmans doesn't want to capture THE
perfect picture. She takes hundreds of shots....focusing
on different sections and details.
„This is my paint so to speak. I take several
pictures and then put them together in the
computer. It´s not about the moment, I just
take the best pieces of every frame and put
them together, like a painter would do.“
Jongmans lives and works in the city of Breda,
some 100 kilometers south of Amsterdam. She
often comes across the materials for her art
by chance.
Well, I´m not looking for it, I´m just finding
it, I guess. I wasn´t looking for it, but
I just bought some fruit at the market. And
look what I found. Cool, right? I think I´m
going to eat this and I´m going to make something
out of this.“
The most time-consuming aspect of her studio
comes after the photos have been shot. She
might spend weeks in her studio, piecing together
individual images. She layers dozens of shots
to create a single picture. In this way she
can achieve a depth that's virtually impossible
to capture in ordinary photographs and her
pictures acquire an almost hyperreal aesthetic
aspect.
„When I take a lot of pictures at first
it was because I wanted to be sure that I
had every detail. So it had to be as many
pictures as possible. So I started out with
500 pictures. But what I learned out of that
is that the model after a while she just took
off with her mind. She was really almost in
a meditive state. And that was just the look
I was looking for. The moment she is not aware
– or he - of me being there. It doesn´t
matter if I´m there or not. Now I take the
pictures because I need them. But there´s
another function that is the models turn inwards
after a while. It just happens. And that is
the moment when I get this look.”
A 21st-century take on a 15th-century masterpiece.
This is Jongman's interpretation of Jan van
Eyck's "Virgin Mary" from the famous Ghent
Altarpiece.
„I like trusting an idea and just go along
with it how silly it seems. Just opening a
box of this foam little things and then get
the idea to do something with it. At first
I don´t know why. But then it evolves into
something I really like.“
Suzanne Jongmans' large format photographs
sell for around 5-thousand euros. Her modern
masterpieces are proof that one person's trash
is another's treasure!
