Adriana Mast (1959, Utrecht, NL)
Lives and works in Ruinen (Drenthe, NL)
2004-2009 Academy of Arts Minerva (Groningen, NL)
Batchelor of Fine Arts
Member of "Beeldend Collectief Drenthe (BCD)"
Member of "Centrum voor Beeldende Kunst Drenthe (CBK)"
From a young age Adriana started painting. For a long time this was just a hobby. Only at a later age she studied at the academy of arts Minerva in Groningen and graduated as a BA in Fine Arts in the summer of 2009. Although universal in her arts her preference is painting with oils. The portrait has been present all through her work. Her paintings strongly remind us of Photo-Realism, which was popular in the United States in the nineteen-eightees. It is a photographically accurate style. Particularly in the series 'Sleeping Beauties' this is most obvious. The models from the (glossy) magazines have been rendered very realistically. Adriana wondered what the degree of truthfullness of the painting was. The "photo shopped" models are basically unreal and pretend to be asleep. In this series the difference in intensity becomes clearly obvious. The "non-photo shopped" models possess a greater expressiveness. They have imperfections, wrinkles and freckles, which require a differtent approach of the skin in painting. Adriana uses oils; she likes the delay, the layer over layer technique that enables her to build up the skin of persons. She also makes pencil drawings, but paint offers her more possibilities. The degree of truthfulness in her paintings is enhanced by the use of a changed composition of the image. By turning or pivoting the image, some paintings get stronger and confuse the viewer.
Apart from the 'Sleeping Beauties' Adriana creates art that tells a story which may be completed in the viewer's own way. Often they are mini-dramas of a very private nature. Events and particularly decisive moments in private sutuations make the transition to the painting. Adriana's themes originate from her interest for the stage, theatre, film and pretence. The work may be called figurative, yet it does not immediately give away its meaning or purpose.
