Look at the Household

The household is subject in art for centuries. Think of the paintings about a dissolute household by Jan Steen (1625-1679) that eventually led to the Dutch saying 'Jan Steen Household'. Also the Milkmaid (1658) by Vermeer and Van Gogh's Potato eaters (1885) have the household as topic. Not to mention the still lifes from the Golden Age. Later household is subject of hyperrealism art, a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph. Hyperrealists create a false reality, a convincing illusion based on a simulation of reality. Most household activities will be conducted by all of us every day. By photographing it in a different way (right from top), you need a bit longer to look at the photograph to realize what you actually see. The images work somewhat alienating. The photo series 'Look at the Household' consists of two subseries of 6 photos. The one subserie with the colors beige, grey, black and white is based on the colour palette of the still lifes of the Golden Age. The other subseries is based on the colors used by hyperrealists. These are in particular the colors red, yellow, green, orange and blue. The topics in the picture are typical Dutch: poffertjes (kind of pancakes), beschuit met muisjes (Dutch toast), Driehoek green soap.