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In the Monster Expo we can see work by Jaap de Vries, an artist who uses varying techniques to show his art. Jaap de Vries is a painter and sculptor living in the city of Breda. Most of his movies are recorded in the basement below his workshop. This fact only triggers the imagination; subterranean things, something dark, dungeons from the middle ages, etc.

Personally, I really like his work. It is like being on a rollercoaster with vertigo enhancing cliffs, watching his horror movies. The moment my eye sees his art, the stomach ties into a knot and the eyes have to focus. Sometimes I just see teeth. The themes he specialises in are: unity of the sacred, the erotic, and the aesthetic. Jaap de Vries tries to add another dimension to his films. His intensive and radical stage settings within his paintings and sculptures create space for the existential experience of violence where the dead rule the organised world. His work has a very visual impact. The memory of “De Opstapeling” (The stacking), one of his paintings, still, after many years, haunts my mind.

‘Surreal Portraits From a Dark World’. The photos from Ash Sivils have an obscure edge. She imagines an atmosphere in which the viewer is sucked towards unknown places. In a stylistic way, her art shows the beauty of darkness, while in an aesthetical sense, the work is frightening. Her photos look like they let you travel through her nightmares; scary dreams with the highlights of shadow. These highlights make the name “Ash”, appropriate for the artist. (MC) website Ash Sivils