He was born in Amsterdam in 1982 and that is still the city where he lives and works. Siemens studied at various Dutch academies but did not finish any of them. His views and search within the domain of the arts caused rejection in regular art education for a long time. Mathijs soon knew that as a young artist he had to invent his own procedures and choose his own material.
 

“If you want to create your own world, you have to build it from the ground up”.

 

For several years now he has been developing techniques in which colourful cotton yarn is the most important material. By putting this fragile yarn under maximum tension, strong figurative compositions are created, in which the space between the 2- and 3-dimensional is an exciting field of work. By laying layers of yarn on top of each other and playing with lines, colours and reliefs, his artwork comes to life.

 

He clearly wants to create colourful and positive work. “It sometimes seems like the world is on fire, but I don't want to tell you that again.” Cheerful art. Eye candy if you will, for himself and for others to temporarily break through the negativity and discomfort around us.

In his medium and small works or ‘multiforms’ the artist enters into a dialogue with his material, based on intuition and association. “I see my work as a series of spatial poems, as a translation of the tension between the rational and the irrational”, Siemens explains.

 

Siemens chooses to fully immerse himself in the construction of his works, layer upon layer, to let the creation fully unfold and flow. Each colour makes way for the next, present but not dominant. By stretching the yarn, Siemens’ sculptures create precise and subtle demarcations of surfaces and volumes. The layers of textile sometimes lead to almost architectural constructions. The combinations of different colours give the illusion of movement. They change as you walk around them. Your eyes have less grip on them: the image moves as an optical illusion.

 

He likes to steer towards this sensory experience and towards his own interpretation instead of ‘knowledge’. When you see his work, you feel the tension, the hard work, the search. It is never finished, never enough, never perfect. Always a void that needs to be filled, a new, better idea that needs to see the light of day.

 

The fate of the artist?