World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 489 - Sasha Zuidam

World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 489 – Sasha Zuidam
At the exhibition Natuurgeweld(ig) (natural violence / nature great) in Art Centre Schiedam I saw beautiful woodcuts by Sasha Zuidam. In the transition area between soil and water I saw, among other things, bankside plants, reed stems and exuberant vegetation in the colours light green, dark green, light brown and dark red.

Sasha Zuidam makes woodcuts and linocuts, both black and white and very multicoloured. Sometimes it remains with that cut-out plank, sometimes the plank is sawn and altered into something else. I speak to Sasha a week after the opening in the Art Centre.

The wooden plate itself is the work
Sasha makes woodcuts to make prints, but the wooden plate is also a work in itself. She works step by step, she says. She first makes a design using collage. She transfers this to the wooden plate and gets to work with gouges, a Stanley knife and a Dremel. “After cutting and gouging, I roll in the plate with printing ink in different layers. In between, I work on the plate with sandpaper and turpentine. These are three different steps in the work process, which I like to keep control over.” One of her sources of inspiration is Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528). He was a painter, draftsman, maker of woodcuts and copper engravings. “I admire him very much. He was very good at cloudy skies and waves. He depicted these volatile elements in solid material, very special.”

At the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, she discovered after the first year that she was not a painter. “A painting can get a different color with every brushstroke. I am more interested in the graphic image and the color is subordinate to that.” She started her career with architectural prints. Over time, the themes changed as a natural process. However, making designs using the collage technique has always remained.
Has she ever been to the land of woodcuts, Japan? “I was once in Japan and during my stay I thought ‘I really have to see or speak to someone who is involved with this old technique’. I ended up with an 80-year-old man. The man could no longer walk and moved around on reed mats (tatamie), but he was still a superior printer of prints. He could talk enthusiastically about his work. Although it was difficult that we did not understand each other, I understood very well what he meant by his gestures and by demonstrating how to print a print. He sometimes made more than 30 layers on top of each other. Very fascinating!”

How would she describe her theme?
“The overarching theme in my work is change. In the beginning it was the change of existing architectures into alienating, Escherian architectures. Later the change of man in this time and the view of the future. What is that man of the future? How far can we go in changing and encrypting ourselves. When do you remain human and when do you become a collection of technical gadgets? If our eyesight deteriorates, we can buy glasses and if our hearing deteriorates, a hearing aid, but how far do we go in this and when is that limit reached? When does something beautiful change into something repulsive?”

For the exhibition ‘Elements’ in the Art Centre Schiedam in November 2023, she created an installation of a changing cloudy sky in a dark space. She wanted to give the viewer a sense of space and an experience that one was really in that cloudy sky. “That was a challenge. I made a test setup and asked several colleagues how I could solve certain technical problems. What should the curvature of the aluminium plate be and how far should you stand from the image for the right experience? How do I best get the design onto the aluminium plate? How do I ensure that your brain does not create the image of the background that you see through the holes? The solution for this was to stretch a white cloth, which made the view of the background disappear. In addition to the image, there were the beautiful sounds of ‘Gymnopédie’ by Erik Satie, which ensured that the viewer got into the right mood. Fortunately, I had started the implementation of this project early enough, because there were quite a few bumps in the road. It was a big challenge and since it is recent work, this is what I am most proud of.”

Cultural education
Sasha teaches in the field of cultural education. Among others, to children from primary schools in the ‘Kinderatelier Punt 5’ in Delfshaven. They come for a series of about 10 lessons for a number of years. “That repetition is important. You can see the progress and you see the ‘learning capacity’ of the children. Many people from this part of the city have little money. For them, the art activity is something special. We give the children self-esteem and teach them to be proud of themselves. Parents, grandparents and anyone else who wants to can come to the exhibitions to experience this feast. We make it a real party where the diploma is a must.”

She also teaches secondary school students at the Centre for the Arts (CvK) Spijkenisse via the RAR and at the Art Centre Schiedam.

What is her experience of the art world?
There are good and bad sides to the profession, she says. “The best thing is to be involved in the work itself. As far as the art scene is concerned, I notice that some artists are in demand because people mainly find the artist interesting, while their work is not really special. There are also artists who are really good, but who do not like to be in the spotlight. It is a pity that these artists do not get the appreciation they so deserve.”

Finally, what is her philosophy?
“The work has to be about something, it has to tell a story. Some artists are only interested in a beautiful picture. A fantastic image is one thing, but it is only a complete work when the visual image and the content tell one story.”
Images
1)Photosynthesis 2, 2024, 2) Gordian knot of life, 2016, 3) Thread of life, 2020, 4) Locked in, 2021, 5) Luctor et emergo, 2022, 6) Man of the future, 2019, 7) Nature strikes back, 2021, 8) Waterman, 2020, 9) Muzzled, 10) Portrait Sasha Zuidam

https://sashazuidam.nl/
https://stichtingkunstwerkt.nl/exposities/2024/natuurgeweldig
https://stichtingkunstwerkt.nl/deelnemers/szuidam
https://inzaken.eu/2024/08/22/kleurrijke-houtsneden-van-sasha-zuidam/