Mixed Media Acrylic on Old Advertising AMS, 2023, 200 x 100 CM

Mixed Media Portrait: Color, Collage, and Cultural Layers
This impressive mixed media painting (200 x 100 cm) features a head constructed from fragments of vintage advertising pages taken from Amsterdam’s art and culture publications. By incorporating these historical paper elements, the work gains a unique layer of meaning and temporality. The collage forms the foundation of the head, which is then overpainted with various shades of blue. Soft light pink accents introduce subtle warmth to the cool color palette, adding surprising nuances to the image. The composition is both powerful and refined. The head nearly fills the entire canvas and is brought to life through the interplay of diverse textures and materials. The blues range from deep indigo to gentle pastel, creating a dynamic tension between shadow and light. The paper fragments remain partially visible, giving the portrait a sense of being built from memories, stories, and cultural references. This combination of color and collage results in a rich, layered image that invites prolonged viewing and discovery.

Presence and Meaning in Space
This work fills the space with a strong but unobtrusive presence. It invites reflection on the layers of our culture and identity, but does so with softness and subtlety. In an environment with natural materials and light accents, the painting comes to life as a source of inspiration and contemplation. It is both an ode to the past and a glance toward the future. Mart Visser’s artistic approach is characterized by a search for expression through materiality and time. He incorporates found materials carrying their own history and merges them with layers of paint that unify the whole. The result is not a classic portrait, but a construction of identity and memory, a dialogic artwork that seems to be in constant flux.