ARTIST STATEMENT - SHIRA VAN DER WOUDEN
Shira van der Wouden - Utrecht, The Netherlands
In all my art I look for discomfort. I believe art should move and activate the viewer in order for the viewer to become a participant.
The viewer is laid for a choice, you can look away or stay. I you stay you're automatically being challenged to a question. Why am I feeling discomfort? What is making me this uncomfortable? Is it the social context? Is it the colors? What about the colors is making me feel this?
It opens up a dialogue between the, now participant, and the painting itself. And not only about the participants feelings and thoughts but about the context the painting and the participant are standing in.