Paradise Lost (2023) Painting by Mieke Van Os

I live and work in Heeze in the south of the Netherlands and I was born in Uden (1960). I followed my education in the visual field at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Tilburg, at the teacher training college there. My specialization was 3D work. In addition, I followed the Higher Degree in Sculpture at the Art Academy in Neerpelt, in Belgium. I further specialized in this discipline for two years. I also participate in the Graduate Project Atelier. A starting number of works has been exhibited in Belgium and online (during the COVID period). 

I usually make sculptures in the rooms of the academy, where I have a metal room, a molding room (for making molds and working with plaster and other materials) and a large workspace. Moreover, it is enriching to work there with other artists. We help each other and give each other ideas. I mainly make paintings and drawings at home. Now that the kids have moved out, I've turned their respective bedrooms into studios. Fine, I can't make large-format works there, so a studio on the ground floor with lots of light and a large passage remains a dream for the time being. 

I am a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on mixed media constructions. More and more I work with things that I find in my environment, also from a sustainability point of view. Remnants of a renovation, residual products of casting materials, pieces of stone or wood, strips of textile. It often results in a material treatment or solution that is not immediately obvious and thus gives my work individuality. I am looking for an unconventional, but traditional shape with a twist. Contemporary traditional. In my work I explore composition, the separation of plane and color, as a painter but also as a sculptor. A way of working to better study the shape. 

My sources of inspiration are very varied and versatile. Whether a work was made 500 years ago or now, I take elements from it to do something with it. Ideas also come from the production itself. The work often has a kind of rules and chaos at the same time. At first glance, my work is very diverse. On closer inspection, there is definitely a connecting line. 

My motto is: “The horizon is infinite, it only knows a limit in your head.” My goal is to further develop and explore my techniques and to experiment with (sustainable) materials, colours, shapes and sizes (!), in a combination of sculpture, painting, ceramics and textiles; I also want to focus more on research in working with plant remains and other biomaterials.

• Nationality: NETHERLANDS
• Date of birth : 1960
• Artistic domains: Works by professional artists,
• Groups: Professional Artist Contemporary Dutch Artists