This series of small aquarelles is based on snapshots I’ve taken on walks around my neighbourhood. I’m intrigued by the relationship between photography and painting. In the era of smartphones, photography is such a mundane, everyday act. We document our lives by an almost compulsive habit of snapshooting. Pics or it didn’t happen! A photo has become a proof of having seen something. To ourselves even a proof of our existence, of having lived. These photos are not premeditated. They are born and exist in the moment, often never to be looked at again.

With these paintings I’ve broken into this habit of snapshooting. I’ve looked again with intent at some of those meaningless photos I took only because something looked interesting or beautiful or odd or touching in the moment – and then I painted them. The act of reproducing a fleeting moment of interest into a painting gives a random image an added importance and value. The image has been chosen, so there must be something more to it. Through the artist’s work and vision it becomes an art object. This is at odds with the whole idea behind a casual snapshot.

The paintings echo the look of a classic printed photograph with their small size and the typical white border. Still the premise behind my work is not about copying an existing image, but about channelling a memory and a feeling. The moment of taking the snapshot and the memory of it is rendered immortal through the conscious act of painting.