Esther Barend - Paintings and portrets that have arisen from her rich and complex inner world.

Artwork on commission for 9th album of famous dutch singer-songwriter Anouk. Original artwork 90x150x4 cm

Esther Barend – painter

I was born in an artistic family in the Netherlands. After finishing my studies, I worked and lived in Paris and Amsterdam and afterwards established myself as a designer of jewellery. Several years later I started classes at the Academy of Fine Arts in Arendonk, Belgium. Although I’d never before quit school, this time I did. After 3 years I felt I had to go my own way. I had learned a lot in the first 2 years, but now it was time to develop myself. I started experimenting and this is how in the course of the years I developed my very own style. Nowadays I work in permanence with galleries in several countries and nothing makes me happier than being able to create my own beautiful world.

I have an unstoppable need to paint. Although partly abstract, my paintings are mostly autobiographical in nature. I’m inspired by my rich and complex inner world, by my current emotions and contemporary events. I examine the entire life inevitable from my personal perspective as an artist. Painting is essential for me, a way of living. In fact, I can’t live without it. I want to take the viewer along into a fascinating spectacle, which has been built by intense colours, contrasts and powerful movements … into another world that only exists in your own mind. Everything is open, no fixed standards, no expectations, but total freedom.

Concerning the Figurative series: I want to show on the outside, what’s on the inside.

We’ve got a lot more going on in our inner world, than we show on the outside.

A lot of people wear a mask all the time. They (unconsciously) hide their history, emotions or uncertainty behind it.
The looks we see on the outside, can be strengthened, weakened, supplemented or adjusted, by the sensations and thoughts, which are (sometimes carefully) hidden on ones inside.
We just have to open our minds, to look beyond our initial sight.

It’s in the manner of seeing, that moves your understanding.

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