Although that transformation could only happen by the intermediation of Bart D., the painter cannot be held entirely responsible for the result. That sort of circularity one can also find in the alienating effect of the home-coming in a country which is not the one of one’s birth. Bart D. had understood that nothing just is, despite the overwhelming sense of reality human beings appear to be obsessed with. Expatriation might have triggered that understanding, but then again, it might not. The best way out of that deadlock is to let the canvases speak for themselves.

–Amante Fennes, Ghent, 2009 

I based this series of prints on sketches, doodles, and drawings that I kept in my notebooks over the years. I then enhanced the background images using kaleidoscopic calculations and other digital effects. I have always been intrigued by artists that keep sketches or notebooks, think in images, keep track of new ideas, or record their personal journeys in some visual way. One of my favorite artists that kept thousands of drawings and sketches is Carl Frederik Hill. He was diagnosed with hallucinations and paranoia and would die of his illness a couple of years later. I also admire 19th-century Swedish artist Ernst Josephson’s drawings and sketches. During his life, he made drawings of a naive, strange, medieval, unknown world. His own world. Was it the world of his visions and dreams? I use my notebooks as a therapeutic exhaust. It is also about telling stories through images by letting your mind meander freely, similar to suggestive writing.