Tijs Dragtsma (1992) - The Single Light Above

From directly above, the rain turns a crowd into a single dark surface, a field of black umbrellas pressed close together, each one hiding the person beneath it. In the finished work that darkness is not painted. It is the acrylic glass itself, left untouched, exactly as it came. Everywhere else, the image is built by removal. A field of fine scratches catches and holds the light where each umbrella's ribs and folds would be, so the crowd rises out of the black as fragments of brightness rather than drawn lines, monumental as one shape from a distance, a field of individual marks once you come close. At the center, one umbrella is scratched far more densely than the rest, a field of controlled surface damage so full it reads as a single steady glow among the broken, half formed shapes around it. Every other figure in the crowd stays a silhouette, present but withheld. Only this one is given completely to the light. The image is always there, in direct light and in low light alike. Light does not create it. It sharpens it, deepening the contrast between the one lit figure and the mass that surrounds it, so the work reads differently depending on where you stand without ever losing its shape. Underneath the rain and the umbrellas sits a quieter question, about what it means to be noticed inside a crowd, to stay yourself when everyone around you is dressed alike and turned the same way. The single light above is not separate from the crowd. It is what the crowd would look like if just one person let themselves be seen. The Single Light Above continues the Art with Scratch series by Tijs Dragtsma, in which imagery is constructed through controlled surface damage rather than pigment or print. This work is unique. "One figure holds the light. The rest hold each other." About Art with Scratch Art with Scratch is a body of work in which the image is not drawn, but released. Carved line by line into a deep black surface, each work emerges through countless precise scratches that catch the light and bring form out of darkness. From a distance, the image appears almost photographic. Powerful, recognisable and full of presence. Yet up close, the work dissolves into a dense field of individual marks. Fine, fragile and almost weightless. What seemed solid reveals itself as a delicate web of lines, each one a deliberate gesture, each one essential to the whole. Light does not create the image. It sharpens it. The black surface absorbs, while the scratched lines reflect. As light shifts across the surface, the image breathes. From one angle the figure stands clear and defined. From another it softens and settles back toward the darkness from which it came, without ever disappearing. Under a focused spotlight, the contrast deepens and the image takes on a sculptural, almost luminous quality. What makes this medium so compelling is its quiet tension. The act of scratching is direct and irreversible. Every line is a decision that cannot be undone. Yet the result is not harsh. It is intimate, atmospheric and alive with movement. Hardness becomes softness. Destruction becomes creation. Absence becomes presence. In works such as this portrait, the figure is never fully fixed. Through the interplay of line, light and shadow, the image shifts with perspective and atmosphere. At certain moments, the subject seems to step forward out of the black. At others, it settles back into stillness. It is within that movement, between sharpness and calm, that the work comes alive. Like all materials touched by time, the surface carries its own quiet life. Each scratch holds a moment, a breath, a gesture. Together they form not just an image, but a presence, one that continues to reveal itself with every change of light. About the Artist My name is Tijs Dragtsma, founder of TD Fine Art Studio. As an artist, I am driven by a constant desire to explore new visual languages. I do not see art as a fixed style, but as an evolving field of discovery where material, structure, light and emotion come together. My work often begins with a simple question. How can a material speak in a new way. How can hardness become intimacy. How can precision create emotion. That search lies at the heart of everything I create. Within TD Fine Art Studio, each body of work is approached as its own world, with its own logic, atmosphere and visual identity. Some works are built through rhythm, repetition and structure. Others emerge through absence, shadow, reflection or tension. What connects them is a shared commitment to originality, clarity and emotional presence. I am fascinated by contrast. Between strength and fragility. Between control and feeling. Between what is visible and what is left open to interpretation. My goal is not simply to make an image, but to create a work that holds attention, invites reflection and continues to reveal itself over time. TD Fine Art Studio is the space in which these explorations come together. It is not only a studio, but an evolving artistic universe shaped by curiosity, precision and the ambition to create work that feels distinctive, intentional and alive.

Stima:€3,500

Vedi tutti gli oggetti diCatawikioArte Contemporanea