Suzanne Jongmans Recycles Everyday Materials for Elegant Renaissance-Style Portraits
Jongmans' works look to the past but are exquisitely contemporary, prompting us to consider the meaning of value. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Suzanne Jongmans Recycles Everyday Materials for Elegant Renaissance-Style Portraits appeared first on Colossal .
Suzanne Jongmans transforms discarded materials into sophisticated Renaissance-style portraits. Her artistry involves using everyday items like packaging and fruit mesh to create figures dressed in rich velvet and positioned against deep backgrounds reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci and Antonello da Messina. She combines these humble materials with fine garments and dignified postures that evoke the solemn expressions common in Renaissance portraiture.
Recently, Jongmans has incorporated copper coils from old household appliances and fuses, blending these elements with themes of gender roles and social issues, such as public breastfeeding. By intertwining a classic aesthetic with current concerns, Jongmans explores themes of femininity, individuality, and concealment. She describes her creative process as an exploration of the relationship between material and immaterial, focusing on how society, history, emotions, and cosmic forces intersect.
Jongmans believes that the Enlightenment's emphasis on reason and modernization has obscured the importance of myths and imagination in our daily lives. Her works serve as contemporary reflections on value and personal connection, often including self-portraits that invite introspection. For example, "In the Midst of It All" is a pandemic-era self-portrait that encourages viewers to pause, rest, and reconnect with both the environment and oneself.
Each piece is printed on Hahnemühle paper, available in limited editions ranging from 8 to 10 prints.
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