Louise Theodora Blankevoort (Haarlem, 1955) studied painting and scenography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (1981). She continued her studies at the School of Visual Theatre, Jerusalem (1989).
Louise founded the visual theatre company Stichting Maskerade, based in Amsterdam, and produced several performances for a mainly young audience
(1992-1997).
Present work includes (large) objects in ceramics, work in ink and acrylic on paper, as well as abstract polychromatic landscape paintings. She works alternately in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Portugal.
The common thread in the productions of Maskerade was a contemporary theme, the sometimes-absurd humour of everyday reality and the visual arts. And these are the same sources I work from.
My work in acrylic and ink on paper – Scenes in Landscape, Stories, and Faces – are reflections of my theatrical imagination, working in a series, telling a story.
As mask players, the faces in the module Storytellers are catching the light and tilting their heads to express their feelings. Spectators, a group of male-faces, made in different shades of dark clay, tell their story, encouraging us as spectators to interpret and reflect for ourselves.
Photographing the sculptural works was an unexpected theatrical adventure; the sculptures became the actors in their own play. The Emerald Queen became the main protagonist and set a coup for the Jester King …
The Mediterranean light, the shifting colours of the seasons, the ever-changing shapes of clouds … all find their way into my oil paintings.
The sea is never far away, revealed in Giants – Ladies of the Sea and Ladies of the Land.
