Ingrid Hardonk

INGRID HARDONK

I was born in Vlaardingen in 1953 and I now live in Oud-Beijerland, close to Rotterdam, for over forty years.
In high school, the art teacher was surprised by my work and suggested I go to the Academy of fine Arts.
But that world was strange to my parents because making music dominated our family. In addition to the piano lessons I was taking, I decided that I would start working.
Around the age of thirty, I studied Drawing and Art History at Adult Education. After these three years, I subsequently took a short course in Autonomous Drawing at the 'Willem de Kooning Academy' in Rotterdam.
Although there was a desire to further my painting skills, family life and my work consumed me.
Photography and filming took their place. These disciplines could more easily be put aside and thus a creative need was still met.
The Academy of Visual Arts, located in Belgium, Hoogstraten, became the next step. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place during this 5-year part-time course, which is not tied to age.


The work 'Realism with a question' is a performance in which the viewer wonders what he/she is looking at and therefore searches for the deeper meaning behind the image.
In this work I push the boundaries to create a painting that displays both color and an interesting composition, but also raises a question. The composition is formed by omitting parts of the original image.
This often gives a painting an unreal atmosphere, where tranquility imposes itself on the viewer.

Art is an opinion, it cannot be forced.
It is the color of your feelings.

Ingrid