"In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep". This quotation by the Greek philosopher Socrates especially applies to the work of the Dutch painter > Ronald Ophuis (1968, The Netherlands, Hengelo). His large canvases (sometimes even 8ft. x 17ft.) portray disturbing images of sex and violence in a gloomy scenery that makes a penetrating and lasting impression on the viewer.

Ronald Ophuis grew up in Hengelo (in the Eastern part of the Netherlands). Although he drew from an early age he had no specific ideas about it. The great eye opener about being an artist came after seeing a documentary on the painter and sculptor Markus Lüpertz (1941, Germany, Reichenberg). Ophuis studied at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the Academy of Visual Arts in Enschede. A major influence on his painting style became Lucian Freud (1922, Germany, Berlin) like him he uses tertiary colors and with the figures portrayed in an agressive realistic manner.

He was 3 years old when his younger brother died at the age of 6 months. When he grew older he unconciously developed images in his head concerning his brother's death so that he could emphatize with his parents. He recalls that the fascinating aspect was that he believed the images were truthful although his father thirty years later told him these images (memories) weren't true. This fascination would become a starting point for his work as an artist.

Ronald Ophuis' work has a very dramatic content but they are painted in an 'unsentimental' way. He is both intrigued by emphatizing with the victim as well as with the perpetrator and therefore the moral responsibility is difficult to abdicate. Due to the subversive quality of his work there has been a lot of controversy. One of his paintings called Padvinders (Boy Scouts) depicts a boy scout who is raped by other scouts. The work was purchased by the municipality of Enschede which led to stong reactions from the locals and the local scouting association. Ophuis reaction was that he also had these emotions and therefore created this specific work. He explains: "If you decide to become an artist you have the motivation to make things and then this kind of issues can arise. It's exciting and challenging to explore these thoughts in your head".

By depicting topics we do not like to be confronted with and that are beyond our comprehension, he wants to portray "evil". That's why he sometimes calls himself "the messenger of bad news", with the emotional value of his work as close as possible to the experience of fear, loneliness and pain.

Execution, 1995 Oil on canvas 102.4 x 165.4 inches.

Visceral

Ophuis doesn't work within a defined moral code because then the mind remains within a protected area and the impact of the work dissapears. Dealing with violence and sexuality within art increases the possibility of identification. Even when these fantasies are not present in the viewer he will have a visceral reaction difficult to ignore. Besides this a painting demands more time, when it affects you you will read it longer. By adding a fysicality to the skin Ophuis hopes to accomplish a slowing down process in the way we look.

Miscarriage I, 1998  Oil on canvas 102.4 x 70.9 inches

Testimonials

> Ronald Ophuis paintings are fictitious testimonials, dramatic events that have been staged in his studio. The scenes are composed of actions that have been performed by the actors in front of his camera. He takes dozens of pictures of the actors of which the best serve as the basis for his life-size paintings. The actors portray scenes like an execution, a miscarriage, a rape, a war scene...etc.