I am a storyteller of sorts, I use images, paintings and written language. I am fascinated by the visual appearance of language; in my works, letters and words are the main material. I use their intrinsic quality, explore their form, re-arrange them, in order to create a space that portrays human consciousness.
The Hebrew language is my pivoting tool. Like other languages, it has its inherent aesthetics and rich associative world. And for me, aside from it being my mother language, I see an opportunity to address conceptual art (which is mostly English dominated) from a new prism, and explore the unique qualities of Hebrew in representing reality.
My research on Hebrew language began at 1992. At 2015, I did a site-specific installation at the location of the historic synagogue of Groningen. This project opened the door to a personal journey of discovering my Dutch-Jewish heritage.
Photo: Chris van Houts