Anya Janseen
The Parliament of Monsters 13, 80 x 80 cm oil on canvas
Double Predestination, 220 x 160 cm
Lady of the flies 2, 200 x 150 cm oil on canvas
Bubbletree 2008, 180 x 120 cm oil on canvas
Rites of Passage 5, 180 x 120 cm oil on canvas
Gloomy Girl, 100 x 80 cm oil on canvas
Rites of Passage 4 Alpha Girl, 160 x 120 cm oil on canvas
About The Artist
Anya Janssen is fascinated with the processes that form our identity. She tries to take on complex issues like the conflict between nature (instinct) and nurture by examining their extremities through art. Although not visible from the start, her large-scale, soft focus paintings are an almost methodical survey of what portion of our identity is biological and what part is socially constructed. She uses subjects like identical twins and tales of people with animal urges to display man’s inner feelings. She purposely choses situations where emotions run the highest to show how close we are to animals when completly uninhibited.
Mirrors and reflections also hold a fair share of Janssen’s interest. The twins she portrays show us how two identical beings can become very different personalities. By using two people with the same genes the exterior factors that form our appearance and personality come to light. She show us how their relationship with the outside world is formed by an eternal game of who’s who.
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