Artist Statement (17 October 2022)

Michiel de Mik (b. 1963) is a Dutch/ South African artist living in Amsterdam. While de Mik attended Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town and the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, he considers himself primarily self taught. His affinity for his grandfather was an early formative influence. He was a cabinet maker who worked at Fokker Aircraft, making wooden prototypes for wind tunnel testing. The bond with his grandfather laid the foundation of faith in technical expertise and respect for materials.

His thinking and imagination are stimulated by simply looking at things. So he makes models of the things that intrigue him. Making these things increases his grasp of them. Detail makes way for clear volumes. (These reductions and the associations which are engendered can also lead to meaningful insights.) De Mik: “The Body is an important element in my work. It is the most intimate experience of matter, energy, space and time. Man-made things are directly related to the body.”

His think-tank of wax-models is an attempt to arrive at a clear identity as an artist. It also serves as a reservoir of forms which can later be executed in a more permanent form.
The forms, on the whole, are easily recognized objects and body parts which are solidly anchored in the real world. Because of the alterations created by de Mik, one is led towards different associations attached to a given form. His intention is that the viewer might find the commonplace a little less so.