Wish You Were Here
Anna Klijsen
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Wish You Were Here
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2025, acrylic and water on raw canvas, 56 x 48 in. (142 x 122 cm)
Artist Statement
My practice has always been defined by limits. First, it was outer space as a container, now it has evolved to be the scale of a keyboard: from the lowest to the highest note. The lowest sits in the body, while the highest stretches far out into the unknown sky. My practice drifts along the keys, straying in and out with visual harmonies.
One of the core concepts of my practice is exploration of the disconnect between self and other. By using raw, unstretched canvas, and water-diluted acrylic paint it allows for a distance between the artist and the work, the self and the other. I create these spaces to take away control from my hand. It functions similar to a C major arpeggio: arcing up and away, before resolving on the same note an octave higher. This is accentuated by the back of the canvas, completely removed from the artist, yet making its own marks nonetheless. The paintings modulate, mutate, and evolve on their own with all participants present.
Process of Wish You Were Here
Dark Side of the Moon
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Dark Side of the Moon
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2025, acrylic and water on raw canvas, 64 x 44.5 in. (163 x 113 cm)
Process of Dark Side of the Moon
This process begins with choosing a colour palette, then pouring. It was truly soaked, and took 2-3 days to fully dry. This was to ensure the paint pigment would come through the backside of the canvas. For the middle layer, pictured on the far right, I used a brush to highlight the shapes I wanted, then washed out with more pouring. The grey final mark in the middle was made by soaking canvas strings in paint, laying them on the canvas, then spooning more paint on top.
As the second painting in the set, Dark Side of the Moon was focused on “less is more”. If Wish You Were Here were a C major scale on a keyboard, directly in the body, Dark Side of the Moon is D minor, detached from the body. It sits in the spot between one person and another, a fracturing line that simultaneously connects and divides.
Past Work
To see more of my work, please visit the Portfolio link in the artist bio at the bottom of the page.
