World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 167 - Marko Klomp

World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 167 – Marko Klomp

Marko Klomp is not only a painter, but also a poet. He connects disciplines, poetry and literature can lead to a painting, but also music can be the starting point. Sometimes it’s the other way around: then he makes a poem based on a painting.

I visit Marko in his studio in a flat in the Kortenbos district of The Hague. The sun shines outside and  the TV screen – without sound – shows the performances of winter sporters in South Korea. On the left are his easels and various works hang on the walls.

Jim Morrison

Marko Klomp participated in the exhibition ‘Club of 27 | Forever 27’ – about famous musicians who died on their 27th. Marko chose Jim Morrison, singer of The Doors, who died at the age of 27 in Paris. In his painting we see a large bird of prey, flying above the city, in muted colors. The image of ‘Bird of Prey’ is out of focus. That out of focusness, ‘sfumato’, turns out to be Marko’s trademark.

Cantima

Marko used to paint everything. He decided to work thematically more than 10 years ago. He chose a theme and started making a number of works on the theme. He included literature in his paintings and made the Eline Vere series, following the debut novel by Louis Couperus, ‘Eline Vere’. He exhibited it in an exhibition entitled ‘The last days of Eline V.’ Now he is working on a series about music, in which the Jim Morrison painting fits.

Marko is inspired in his painting by different kinds of songs / music compositions. Various genres are covered such as opera, classical, pop, jazz and hip-hop. He has finished more than 10 paintings in his series ‘Cantima’ (= Cantus Imago). He is now working on his eleventh. On ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’ (Nick Cave / Kylie Minogue) we see a woman in a blue dress lying on a forest path with wild roses in the roadside.

On ‘Stan’ we see a big American car in a rainy night with headlights on in the Eline Vere series,response to the eponymous song of hiphopper Eminem. “It’s about an insane fan who kidnaps his pregnant girlfriend.” And on ‘This Bitter Earth’ a woman is lost in thought on a bench in the snow. “Dinah Washington, the jazz singer, sang it in the 1940s. You see a sad girl with a white background. There is a paradox with this painting. The canvas is too black. “

He would prefer that people view the painting – and other paintings of his hand – while hearing appropriate music or reading a poem next to it. This is possible on Marko’s website. “And at an exhibition nowadays, with a QR code on the mobile phone. Then you view the painting and hear the song. “

When he works, he sometimes has music on, also songs of which he makes a painting. “Not too long of course, it will get boring.” He needs to feel a connection to a song, if he wants to paint it. “The image has to tell something about the song, but it does not have to be like a cover of a CD. I sometimes make guidelines for myself, otherwise I will get lost. “

Marko only uses oil paint. That has many advantages, the painted figures and objects come out better, and, because everything fades on his paintings, it is also practically better. “Acrylic, the alternative, dries too quickly.” With the spalter, a broad brush, he mixes the paint and than makes solid brushstrokes. He does that with his left hand. “I am left handed, also with painting. I’m only right handed on sports. “

Key work

Does he have a key work? He has. There are even two. The first is a portrait of Jeroen Krabbé. He made it in 2012 for the TV show ‘Stars on the canvas’. In this program three painters made a portrait of a famous Dutchman. One of those portraits was chosen by the person portrayed as the best. Marko won. It meant a big turnaround, both artistically and for his career. “I became better known. I received offers and the assignments increased. “

He still has contact with Jeroen Krabbé. In 2015 Krabbé asked him to join in for the tv series ‘Krabbé in search of Van Gogh’. Marko then painted a garden in Montmartre, close to the former apartment of Vincent and his brother Theo. I remember the series, but I had forgotten Marko Klomp. Thinking back, I remember the young enthusiastic painter from the program. Marko also participated in the last episode of ‘Stars on the canvas’. The presenter of the program, Hanneke Groenteman, was portrayed. Matthijs van Nieuwkerk was the occasion presenter. I saw that broadcast too. Hanneke Groenteman was in tears because of the processing of an original part of a doorpost in one of the paintings of the house where she had been in hiding during the war.

That painting won, and not that of Marko. Nevertheless, Groenteman was very impressed with Marko’s work. In ‘Klomp Revisited’, a book featuring Marko’s best paintings and poems of 20 years, Hanneke Groenteman writes in the preface: “He is my Star of the Canvas.” In the second preface Krabbé writes: “Marko is a searching poet and sensitive painter at the same time. (..) In addition, he is my dear art brother, and I regard that as high as his beautiful, fascinating work! “

This was evident at the Picasso Competition in 2017. Marko was on the jury, alongside Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum, and Jeroen Krabbé. It was affiliated with the program ‘Krabbé in search of  Picasso’. Participants were asked to create a work inspired by the work of Pablo Picasso.

 

The Dream is Ours

The second key work is ‘The Dream is Ours’ (2009). A woman is leaning forward with her face and hands on a pillow. Marko: “I like to paint women. The work shows the development of the use of the thick layers of oil paint, almost masonry, on the canvas and the thin layers in my paintings now. It has been a gradual development.” We walk to the other wall where he shows an example of the ‘thick’ work. ‘The Risen’ (2002), a Christ figure, somewhat similar to Marko. Last year he had an exhibition in the upper room of Pulchri, there was work of 20 years together. The development in the years was clearly visible.

Marko Klomp graduated from the St. Joost Academy in Breda in 1998. The three TV broadcasts have given his work a boost, but he still has to fight and work hard, he says. “People forget those TV broadcasts quickly.”

It was already seen in TV broadcasts: Marko can not stand too long, he walks with a walking stick and has a scooter. “I have MS. My eyes are deteriorating. I suffer from eye vibrations and see double. That contributed to the sfumato style. I have lived without glasses for a long time. When I got a pair of glasses I really saw if a painting had been successful. Then I started to make still vaguer paintings. “

Finally: does he have something special? “I like cross-pollination. Perhaps I will involve an extra discipline in the future: the theater. I think that would be fun, a play based on my work. “

Images:

1)The dream is ours, 2009, 100 x 80, 2) The blue airstream, 2011, 120 x 80, 3) Descendit, 2012, 100 x 80, 4) Jeroen Krabbé, 2012, 100 x 80, 5) Chronicles 2 , 2014, 6) Krabbé in search of Van Gogh, Montmartre, 2015, 7) Hanneke Groenteman, 8) Madama Butterfly, 2017, 90 x 70, 9) Bird of prey, 2017, 120 x 100, 10) portrait Marko Klomp, photo Marieke Post

 

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