The new artworks series by Suzanne Beek are inspired by still lives of Dutch 17th century artists. It is the craftsmanship, the orientation towards nature’s beauty and simple objects, that the artist is intrigued by. In our society we tend  to overlook the precious things of nature and forget the meaning of objects of past generations. Tik-Tok and other social media have created a restless society, thirsty for new images and new objects. The artist work is a contemplation of our time and how to give meaning.

This work was directly inspired by a work of Balthasar van der Ast. Many ideas of the artist come together in this exquisite little work. It refers to the successful Dutch tulip industry, now a commodity product, whereas the tulip used to be an exclusive flower. The forgotten appreciation for the simple things in life is also underlined by the single flower. The tulip is placed in a very small vase which used to belong to the artist husband’s grandparents. The viewer wants to hold the antique vase to keep it from tumbling over, reminding us of the fragility of beauty and temporality of possession.

Suzanne Beek's works are based on oil paintings on panel made by her using 17th century techniques. Starting in a two-tone scheme the painting is built up layer-upon-layer. In this way some layers can be added with a thicker coat of paint and others in very thin layers (glacis), leaving the background shining through.

The finished painting is scanned and printed on Hahnemühle fine art paper. The built up of the artwork in 3D starts hereafter. Using several prints of the same artwork, the cut-out process starts, which takes many days. Hereafter the work is carefully built up in 3D. To protect and structure the work, the artist has covered the work with an UV protected Perspex box.