Jade Van der Mark

Making the choice to move from Amsterdam to London was natural and easy for Jade. Amsterdam started to feel too small for her, and she had been wanting to move to London to work further on her art, as it fits perfectly with her current themes. “In Amsterdam, I often observed people during their daily routine, cycling along the canals at dusk in search of stories to paint. I grew increasingly interested in topics such as overpopulation, over-consumption, city life and the effects of stress. I constantly worry about the world we live in, the way we treat others, and the ease with which we live in our own worlds, often turning our backs on one another.” That's one of the reasons why Jade is always searching for more subjects to depict and confront the world with, making London an obvious choice. We can hardly disagree as London is a beautiful city, with so many secrets and so much history. But also, a city with many different faces and cultures. It took Jade a while to get used to her new city. She became fascinated by how the escalators of the London underground were crammed with hundreds of exhausted working people. “Sometimes I stand for hours at the bottom of the escalators and observe the scenes unfold”. Revealing that she does the same in other places, like Harrods, or when taking a walk from Regent Park to Bethnal Green, Hackney or Kensington. Strolling through the city gives her clarity and helps Jade reflect on the layers of our society. “I see my paintings as stories that I tell by observing society.” In Van der Mark’s studio are several large canvases for an upcoming solo show. She explains that “one is about an escalator in Piccadilly Circus tube station in London, a second one is about the fashion industry in which the influence of the elite plays an important role. The third work pictures a waiting room full of heavily made-up women, waiting to get their lips filled and the last is about everyday people struggling under heavy workloads.” All of them are depicting groups of people, staring at her all day, so she’s never truly alone! “It can be a Roald Dahl children’s story, a dramatic piece of classical music or a politically fraught piece I read in the newspaper. The world around me inspires me enormously, especially when it comes to groups of people or cultures, diversity and overpopulation.”

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Jade observes large groups of people living alongside each other in a crazy, fast-paced existence. Topics such as disconnection, the influence of social media, overconsumption, power and work-related stress are key themes. “Image sometimes comes naturally, from standing at the bottom of an escalator in the subway for hours or at intersections on the road, to talking to demonstrators about climate change or watching documentaries about everyone and everything for hours. I absorb it all until suddenly I get an overwhelming desire to paint and then it all comes pouring out.” Much like sound can communicate a word and thereby ultimately meaning, a canvas functions on a similar level for her. Naturally, Jade stops to talk about her painting, We’re All Human. A painting depicting the current zeitgeist – a German concept describing the ‘spirit of the age’ or ‘spirit of the times’. As she observes her surroundings, Jade explains that she “sees that we are comfortably devoid of the capacity to connect with one another. Our concerns are more often than not drawn inwards, and this is now an acceptable norm. I think we ought to look at this critically.” Speaking more extensively about this notion, it quickly becomes clear that Jade thinks it’s easy to say that our mobile phones, headphones and the exhausting restlessness derived from modern-day responsibilities at work and at home, have created this disconnection between us. In her point of view, we are individuals behaving in ways that polarise individuality. It’s made many of us inevitably feel lonely, and sometimes big cities such as London can feel like the loneliest city in the world. “I want to communicate this loneliness. Each person is placed claustrophobically beside another and represents a different cultural, race, political ideal or gender. We are all interesting, but lack interest in each other.” In that sense, Jade’s broader message would be that on an ethical level we might be endeared to broaden our horizons and learn about each other, but many of us keep our fears and questions to ourselves. By keeping these questions inside, we consequently make up answers too.

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Jade Van der Mark’s fashion background remained her primary focus for several years after graduating. In 2016, she won the Dutch fashion award in Milan during fashion week, where she stayed a little longer as part of a fashion residency – an experience that gave her the opportunity to build her own brand. As a consequence of her winning the prize, Dolce and Gabbana asked Jade to work for them. It was a tough decision but, in the end, she turned this proposition down as she wanted to keep her business small rather than giving it up to a big company. “Now, I call my textile works art rather than fashion. Each work derived from my paintings, taking from 500 to 800 hours.” Pieces that will be shown for the first time in London during her solo show. Jade Van der Mark focuses entirely on the show, opening in September. She hopes “people recognise themselves in my paintings and start having honest conversations with each other. My aspiration is to really touch people with my work because I find that it is essential in life to give back to the community in every way possible.” After her experience in London, New York may be an interesting place to explore and carry on her work and research on society. In the long run, Jade’s dream is to buy an old farmhouse in Italy, somewhere close to nature; turn it into a permanent studio to practice painting and, of course, fill it with geese.