AT: Where are you from and how/why you start engaging to art?

SVS: I am from a small village from the North of Belgium, but currently living and working between Brussels and Lisbon (Portugal). I always have been practicing art in different mediums: drawing, photography, painting and sculpting. But now, it is about three or four years I am working as a fulltime visual artist.

AT: When did it become serious?

SVS: To me it was always serious, but about four years ago I really wanted to go for it, and I worked less in my previous job and just gave it a try and wanted to focus on the fully. I always wanted to create my complete freedom, and to be the one who creates without other people telling me what or how to do. I wanted to have the complete control of what I wanted to make and express. Painting, sculpting, creating is my way to communicate. I am not a man of words, but a man of emotions, and this way of working is the best tool to express myself. It gives me the opportunity to understand myself, and to present it to others.

AT: Are there any person that have been significant in your 
progression as an artist?

SVS: My partner has always been a real support and the major support. He is the one that always understood that this was what I needed to do, so he really motivated to go for it. From my part, I can understand that living together with an artist must not be that easy, as my point of views are sometimes difficult to understand, my vision on freedom and life in general is not that mainstream. Things can seem to me very normal, but I do understand that for an outsider it can be hard to follow. And even sometimes, to be honest, I don’t even understand myself…

Asphodel gallery, New York – Installation view new works, 2018

AT: What’s your first approach to the work? Where does your process 
start?

SVS: To start working, I must clear my head, to have my focus on the work and to have not too much distraction.

AT: What are your favorite tools and materials for working?

SVS: Definitely my hands! I use them from beginning to end. They are always covered with plaster, pigments or varnish. Walking in the streets, I can see people stare at my dirty hands. It even can look if I use nail polish.

AT: Do you leave your work open to interpretation? Or do you think 
the viewer should engage with your work in a specific way?

SVS: Off course I want to leave my work open to any interpretation. As I respect my freedom, I don’t want to interfere in the freedom of others. For me it is needed that people can interpret that the work as they want. They have to be (or not) absorbed by the work and let their inner voice guide them. As my work is very sensitive and very much relied on emotions, I do not want it to put it in any box of concept, it has to have its freedom to live and to be interpreted. Who am I to tell people how the viewer should feel my emotions? It would be great if people do understand the silence and emptiness in the work, and if they make the time to let it affect on them. They don’t have to be afraid of the silence or try to escape this, but embrace this.

“Untitled”, 2018, pigments, jute, plaster and epoxy on board, 32 x 26 x 11 cm

“Untitled”, 2017, pigments, jute, plaster and epoxy on board, 22 x 28 x 11 cm

AT: How do you feel while you are working? You think of the final 
result?

SVS: When I work, I am – most of the time – in a complete state of concentration. I do not want to think of anything, not about anything that can distract my thoughts neither about the end result. I would feel imprisoned if the result or anything should be known in advance. My complete attention goes to the practice and act itself. For this, it is very important to work in a semi-clean space, I just want to have the piece I am working on, in front of me and only the tools I need to work with. It is so nice not to have control of our mind and sometimes also our body. Our mind, even as hard as we force, will always go to directions we don’t planned. Our mind is a free spirit in our body, and we have to accept it as it is.

AT: How do you understand when a work is finished?

SVS: Maybe it is easier to understand when it is not finished. As long as it is NOT finished, it is not finished. I am very difficult in this. Sometimes I think a work is ready, but then when I see it the day after, I am not happy with the result, and I work again on it. So it is hard to say, some pieces got it right away, and some pieces can be really stubborn to me.

AT: Where does the inspiration for the work come from? Do you find 
inspiration outside or it’s all inside you?

SVS: For most of the time, inspiration has always been coming from my inner soul. I will always be working in a very honest way, without forcing things. My work has a very authentic character, where I let the soul speak. I am aware of what is inside me, and I don’t want to hide it or force it towards another direction. Currently I am struggling with a lot of fears, and this is reflected in the work. I am leaving a lot of weight behind and I am working towards a more pure and minimal approach, where the work is less charged. It is kind of liberation, and this freedom and joy can be seen in the more light-toned works. The light shines from my soul into the light-colored (almost white) surfaces, and reflects and absorbs the light, to give energy. The emptiness gives power and feeds the inner strength and inner life. I think there is no need to escape from our inner lives, but to stand still and reflect to experience it in an honest way. We need to inhale and exhale it. The border between a feeling and emotion must be very clear, and I want to emerge emotion and let the feeling fade away. I want to observe and touch the invisible.