Featured in May & June, issue nr 8, summer 2024
May & June, Issue nr 8, summer 2024
IN THE SPOTLIGHT, 3 questions for Ger-Jan
Ger-Jan de Gilde is originally a fashion designer. His love for nature made him go out with his camera to photograph the most beautiful plants. He makes botanical relief woodcut prints from these images in distinct color combinations on paper and various canvases.
HOW DO YOU PROCEED?
‘I photograph plants and plant forms in nature, always looking for balance and tension in an image. I then draw the photo digitally as a line drawing, from which I make a stamp from a wooden panel. I process this stamp with ink and print it by hand on paper or canvas. I was looking for a method of reproduction that produces unique works, meaning there is only one copy of each print. By using a stamp that is printed by hand, each work is unique. By using these stamps I can keep the price of the works relatively low and thus ensure that the art remains affordable. After printing, the canvas is stretched by hand on a wooden painting frame and finished with a locally produced frame.’
WHY BOTANICAL PRINTS?
‘Nature is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. For my work I mainly focus on leaves and branches with leaves. We live in the countryside where I spend endless hours walking with my dog and photographing all the beautiful things I see. We also travel a lot in Northern Europe because my partner is originally from Norway. The prints of wild roses and the leaves of fruit bushes such as raspberry, blackberry and rowan come from there. From the Netherlands I chose the common trees and plants such as the willow, elderberry and goldenrod. The Ginkgo biloba (Japanese walnut tree) is my personal favorite. The leaf has a beautiful special shape and the tree itself has medicinal properties. The choice to work with leaves is partly based on technology. Because my images are reduced to a silhouette, I look for the characteristic of the form. A leaf or branch is a perfect subject in this quest and for me inexhaustible in terms of inspiration. I will photograph branches with leaves in nature all over the world and process them into art. This means to me that there is a journey behind every work of art.’
HOW DO YOU DETERMINE THE COLORS?
‘In the concept I work with a very pure distribution of colors, the majority of my prints are two-colored. Often a light and a dark tone. My colors are often saturated, I don’t use a ‘happy’ pink but I do use a saturated, grayed color pink. I use natural tones, but strangely enough I almost never use green. I strive for a more abstract feeling than a realistic representation of nature and the color green refers too much to literal nature.’
Curious about the prints that Ger-Jan makes? You can buy them at printedplant.com or follow Ger-Jan via @printedplant
7 FAVORITES OF GER-JAN
1. Harvest – From our garden we harvest various greens, such as potatoes, artichoke, fennel and cauliflower.
2. Norway – the overwhelmingly beautiful nature.
3. Go outside – Our dog Alex who takes me back into nature every time, or is it reversed?
4. Growth – On our own land in Norway we pick raspberries and various berries but also chanterelles. They appear towards the end of summer.
5. Inspiration – In my studio in De Kwakel, a village in the municipality of Uithoorn.
6. Work – One of my prints Ginkgo biloba on paper.
7. Art – Open Ended by Richard Serra in Museum Voorlinden, so impressive.
Find your copy of May & June issue 8, summer 2024 here
