Name Tjalf Sparnaay | ||
 | ||
Getting closer a documentary about megarealist painter tjalf sparnaay
Tjalf Sparnaay (born 1954, Haarlem, Netherlands) is a Dutch artist, photographer, illustrator and painter.
Contents
- Getting closer a documentary about megarealist painter tjalf sparnaay
- Tjalf sparnaay
- Early life
- Work
- Exhibitions
- Selected publications
- References
Tjalf sparnaay
Early life
Born in Haarlem, Tjalf lived with his parents for much of his younger years. In 1959 the family moved to Rotterdam.
Sparnaay was educated to become a sports teacher and became a selftaught painter and amateur photographer from about 1980. Before becoming an established artist, Sparnaay made postcards to earn money.
Tjalf Sparnaay once lived in Drenthe, moved to Hilversum. He calls himself a painter and businessman.
Work
Sparnaay is inspired by the Dutch painter Carel Willink. His examples in photorealism became Ralph Goings, Charles Bell and Richard Estes.
His oils are based on everyday objects. His subjects are items such as a breakfast, a crushed Coca-Cola can, a fried egg, a half eaten sandwich, cheeseburgers and desserts, a bag of chips with mayonnaise, a Dutch raw herring with a small flag and a bunch of tulips wrapped in cellophane. His paintings refer to the tradition of Dutch 17th century still-life, but are expanded to large scales using photorealistic techniques. His largest painting is called FoodScape and measures 120 x 300 cm.
Sparnaay takes these items out of the context of their day to day surroundings, enlarging them so the viewer sees their tiniest details. His intention is to "give the objects a heart".
I hope my paintings will allow the viewer to re-experience reality, to re-discover the essence of the thing that has become so ordinary from its DNA to the level of universal structure, in all its beauty. I call it the beauty of the contemporary commonplace.
His style is called 'megarealism' and can be considered as belonging to Hyperrealism.
Exhibitions
Sparnaay exhibits in the Netherlands, the United States and England. His paintings have sold for over $55,000. His original works are exhibited and sold by art dealers in three countries: Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in New York, PlusOne Gallery in London, and at Mark Peet Visser Gallery in the Netherlands.
Sparnaay exhibited in various art galleries, such as the Meisel (from 2013), OK Harris Works of Art, New York, from 2002 until 2012, Plus One Gallery, London (from 2006 until 2014), Smelik and Stokking Gallery, The Hague (1994).
In 2015, a solo-exhibition with 50 works, painted between 1998 and 2014 took place in Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle.