About

My name is Tessel van der Putte and I am a Dutch artist who specializes in telling stories of mindfulness and femininity through the medium of paint. In all my art, I work with abstraction of form, influenced by cubism and symbolism. I am also an academically schooled writer and researcher, with a special interest in human rights, feminism and the impacts of climate change on small island nations (see most recent publication).

In my recent works, I have started to refer more deeply to the elements, and to water in particular, in order to visualize the relationship between our "inner world" and the outer natural world. This also means that each artwork aims to be a house to other worldviews that have recognized this interconnectedness for a long time, such as Indigenous philosophies and Ayurvedic wisdom.

Especially on the topic of intersectional feminism, I use painting as a tool of healing and introspection. I think there is a lot of power within art to reclaim the myriad of experiences within this field and to re-frame the narratives of what "femininity" entails in today's societies and what it means to ourselves. Tessellated in cubist-like contrasts, light and shadows, the shapes I paint are an embodiment of our feminine and masculine energy, and those dualities that we all carry within us.

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In many of my works, I enjoy playing with perspectives too. The nude bodies are often constructed like broken mirror pieces, dissolving with the environment they are depicted in or with the other bodies in the painting. The idea behind this method is that, even though we all perceive the world through one single lens or angle, there is no such thing as absolute separation. Everything -  in essence - is connected with, and part of, each other.