Floor de Bruyn Kops: ‘The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls’

Art is not just about what you see. It is about the long path that led to the artwork you are witnessing. Artist Floor de Bruyn Kops describes this process as a continuous treasure hunt. “You know where you start but you never know where you’re heading. Along the way, you stumble upon new elements that give your work an unexpected spin. This struggle makes your work layered and, therefore, interesting to look at.”

When entering De Bruyn Kops’ atelier, the first thing you notice is the vibrant mix of colours on her many paintings. “Colours and shapes form the foundation of my art,” she explains. “But expressing myself with colours can just as well happen in the form of minimalism of colours.” That was the case in her Justitia series, a large set of paintings with what goes on inside a courtroom as her inspiration. Along the way, she discovered dozens of ways to create greys and black. “Court intrigues me. Just like a painting, a courtroom seems very quiet and serene, while it actually conceals a storm of emotions and drama. That is what I tried to capture in these paintings.”

Regardless of which series she is working on, De Bruyn Kops’ work always comes from within her. “With every brush stroke, you reveal a part of yourself. I make my art because it feels right to me, not because I expect other people to like it. Therefore, my art grows along with me. The paintings I made two years ago are no longer the paintings that I would make today. Yet, every series I create seems to lead me to the next. This way, my work is one continuous story.” Besides her own work, De Bruyn Kops also collaborates with other disciplines and companies. Among other things, she created Splash Art for Akzo Nobel with Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.

When asking her what we can wish her for the future, her answer is: “That there may be many more pleasant surprises on my path. I enjoy not knowing what my next series will be about and discovering it as I go. Today, I’m working on a more philosophical series about the luck of existence. But I have no idea what comes next. In the end, the result is always irrelevant. Only the act of painting matters. The true purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

Photo: Floor de Bruyn Kops.

Feel free to visit De Bruyn Kops’ atelier upon request.For more info, visit:www.floordebruynkops.nl