Artist's statement

Tjalf Sparnaay’s paintings hit the retina like bolts of lightning in a clear blue sky. No other painter confronts us quite so clearly with ordinary objects that we hold dear. Since 1987, he has been working on his imposing oeuvre, constantly seeking new images that have never been painted before. What he calls Megarealism is part of the contemporary global art movement of Hyperrealism, and Sparnaay is now considered one of the most important painters working in that style.

Artist's statement:
Strongly influenced by Vermeer and Rembrandt but also by Ralph Goings and Charles Bell, I take the subjects of my oils from everyday reality. Utilitizing trival or mundane items, I let reality run through my fingers afresh. My intention is to give these objects a soul, a presence.

Times stands still when I place these objects in a classical art arrangement, removed from the context of their day-to-day surroundings. Ideally, this sense of timelessness is the way in which my technique is close to the 17th century Dutch tradition.

I hope my paintings will allow the viewer to re-experience reality, to re-discover the essence of the thing that has become so ordinary from its DNA to the level of universal structure, in all its beauty. I call it the beauty of the contemporary commonplace.

Tjalf Sparnaay
2011