Een kast vol passie voor kunstenaar Fleur Kotten

A cabinet full of passion for artist Fleur Kotten

A cabinet for your collection of books, kitchenware, model trains, hobby materials: at Lundia, we encounter the most wonderful questions, often born from a passion. That's what energizes us! That's why, under the banner of "a cabinet full of passion," we visit people who passionately share what drives them.

Pay a visit to Fleur Kotten, Tanja Karreman advised us when we visited her for a client story. According to her, Fleur is an artist to watch. As an art adviser, Tanja has a keen eye for creative talents. Plenty of reason, then, to seek out Fleur in Amsterdam.

Young art career in sight

Fleur Kotten (23) grew up in Hoorn. From a young age, she was busy creating things. “I was always fascinated by the human ability that you can, in theory, make everything you imagine yourself.” Already in sixth grade, she was consciously thinking about making a career out of it. “So I started early,” Fleur says with a laugh. “From that moment, I began building my portfolio. I had a folder with all kinds of drawings; I was that serious about it. The urge to make things has always been with me.” With her end goal clearly in sight, her secondary school years felt like a delay.

Fortunately, she was able to start quickly at the Breitner Academy, part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Thanks in part to the small scale and personal approach of the course, she immediately felt at home there. In 2022, she completed her studies in the direction of ‘teacher of visual arts and design’. Meanwhile, Fleur works as an artist, teaches part-time the subject ‘art history and drawing’, and works part-time as an assistant to Merijn Bolink, an established artist from whom she learns a lot.

Open schetsboek met tekeningen op ezel, glazen pot met kwasten en beschilderd palet in groen houten kastje

Sharing passion

"My program consists of three components," Fleur explains. "One part is creating free art, one part is teaching, and one part is art theory. I chose to combine creating art and teaching. I really enjoy this variety. Creating art is a very individual activity, but I also really enjoy sharing my passion. I would find it quite lonely to work alone in my studio all week. I also enjoy teaching and sharing my enthusiasm with the students."

Poetic style

Fleur's artwork of the past two or three years often features hand shapes. "That came about because I wanted to depict humanity," the artist explains. "But when you paint a person, the focus is often very much on who that person is, on skin color, gender, and so on. And my work isn't necessarily about that. That's why I use the hand as a universal form to show the presence of humanity. It also gives me more freedom to combine with colors and other forms." Her current style is quite poetic and sensitive. Fleur: "I work with wood, and the wood grain gives everything a softer glow. I also often use the combination of image and text. In the work process, I first filter my thoughts into text, for example in the form of a poem, sentence, or word. Then I create an image to go with it. This creates a poetic, associative style."

Fleur's future plans aren't set in stone yet. "I just graduated and am still trying to figure out what my professional life will entail. Currently, my week is 50% art-making and 50% teaching. I'd love for art to become a bigger, more serious part of my life. That would require a larger studio, because space in my apartment is a bit limited," she laughs. This brings us to the Lundia cabinet in her home. We ask Fleur to highlight something. She chooses an example, from sketch to creation. "I usually have a little notebook with me so I can work out ideas immediately," she explains. "But this time, an idea came to me during a yoga class. The class ended with a deep inhalation, followed by an exhalation. We built up tension and then released it. I liked that dynamic. I didn't have my notebook with me, so I made a quick sketch on my phone. I worked it out at home in the sketchbook that's currently on the cabinet. Then I transformed those sketches into the creation you see on the left." A beautiful insight into her creative process!

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