Carolus, born 1929, The Netherlands

As a former owner of a bar in the infamous Zeedijk district in Amsterdam Carolus' carreer as a painter did not start until his 60^th birthday. As a self-educated philosopher and painter he is well read in the work of thinkers such as Voltaire, Baudelaire and Brecht. In painting he follows his idols, who range from Rothko to David and Picasso. This results in a remarkable combination of folksy esthetics and an almost kitschy painterly technique with a monk-like devotion to his practice and pieces that express the great themes of mankind.

The rope-walker featured in Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra literally falls of his rope in the work of Carolus. A rope that for Nietzsche signifies the tight balance between animal urges and the enlightened man, the Dionysian versus the Apollonian. Carolus to find a balance between urge and thought, within his daily life and within his work that is a direct extension of it.

He still paints everyday in his studio/home in the Friesian city of Workum. He only concerns himself with the act of painting and translating philosophical texts into his very individual symbolism. Painting is a goal in itself, and the resulting painting is nothing more than the residue of an creative action. The paintings on show at TORCH are often drenched in oil paint and are painted front to back on top of many, many predecessors.

More on Artist Carolus