As time goes by
100 x 150 cm
2014
‘There is no light without dark and no dark without light.
In As time goes by light and dark show this basic rule of observation in a most penetrating way. The light circles are all the more radiant, because the darkness that surrounds them is ultimately dark. And vice versa.
As the title suggests, however, As time goes by does not bother itself with light and dark, but with what gives direction to the both of them: time. The radiating circles in the middle of this Meta-painting represent, obviously, time that goes by. These circles, one by one, seem to represent the pieces of time we are used to call moments.
Our lifes can be seen as collections of such moments, more or less stringed together like the pearls of a necklace. Our pearls of time, the moments presented in this Meta-painting, are finding themselves in the all-embracing darkness of non-existence, the darkness everything comes from and everything will return to.
But amidst this vast environment of non-existence, these moments exist for some time in a most fragile way. And still, they radiate a vitality that suggests a willpower that’s unbeatable. These moments may be surrounded by something vast and omnipotent; they nevertheless fulfil themselves with utmost necessity. The sparkling light they radiate, leaves us no other option: nothing is going to stop them from being what they have to be, moments that lead to other moments, already changing into next moments, coming from previous moments, influencing the next moments and being influenced by the previous moments. And in all this, their major property, amidst the unavoidable darkness that is surrounding them, seems to be the light they radiate. They are red, blue, green, yellow light glowing in a darkness that seems inhospitable to any light at all, but still has to allow this fragile, yet excessively vital, light to shine, no matter how short.’
From the article As time goes by, March 2014
