The series ‘Breakthrough’ is based on screenshots from computer games. 3-D first-person-shooters or fantasy and strategy games provide a source of images characterised by gothic, kitsch and sci-fi attitudes. The architecture uses all the possibilities of virtual space. The paintings are executed in traditional watercolours and appear as if they were done en plain-aire within the 3D environment of the game. These images, related to comics, take on some qualities from old painting, making use of what is given in this 3-D setting: dramatic light, exaggerated composition, and deep colouring.
This imagery is in turn disrupted by people who do not belong in a computer game: Very real demonstrators, brandishing signs and flags, are hurled into this surrounding. They seem not to realise where they have landed, and go on making use of their most democratic right to utter their political will.

C.B. 05/2003