db Waterman: Beauty From Decay

Hi db, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today! To start off with, can you tell us how and when your artistic career began?

My artistic career began with using and painting my children's drawings when they were small. The uninhibited creations of the little ones lent themselves very well to be processed as small works of art.

This grew into a whole series of prints with cheerful animals, combined with graphic elements. For this I used watercolor and India ink.

When or how did you first come across the collage technique?

There came a period when things were less financially and I could no longer afford artist materials. 

But I wanted to stay busy making art. So I started looking for all kinds of leftover materials that I did have. Old pieces of paper, magazines, newspapers and leftover paint. I started to apply these scraps to each other and this created a totally new way of creating. A way that I felt very comfortable with and that made me remember that as a young girl I always used to make collages with everything, from school agendas to my bedroom door.

This way of working I started to expand and it totally went its own way. It has evolved and brought me where I am today.

The figures in your works, who are they? And how do you choose them?

With my artworks I want to tell a story and therefore I use people, to reinforce the story. These are mainly children because with the children I want to tell the story of the childhood that is past, the past that has been. And I want to let people look back at their youth. Let them dream away just like looking at old photos in old family albums. 

At the same time I also want to show people what life is like for many children in difficult situations. I think that now more than ever, the recurring themes in my portfolio are highly relevant. My art depicts the current state of the world, and how our children grow up in an often unfair as well as deteriorating environment. 

Yet, it is precisely the children's ability to transcend difficult situations and find joy and light in the darkest surroundings that is the much-needed hope for the future. Sustainability is also integrated in my works through the materials I use. Most of these materials have been repurposed to be used in my artworks.

There is a sort of blissful melancholy that’s transmitted through your works, how    do you achieve such a complex dichotomy? 

I think it comes from the images of the children combined with the often rough and crumbling environment I try to create with my collage backgrounds. 

With that, I try to place a child in a slum, a war zone, an urbanized environment or an area where climate change is evident.

Children make smiles appear on the faces of adults. And everyone recognizes themselves in a child. And no one wants children to have to grow up in such an environment.

Is there one or two works in your collection today that speak to you more than the others?

“Child in Time”: Through this artwork I want to show that nature is losing out to encroaching industry. The children have to play on concrete and the plants are going to disappear. 

“December Rain”: This artwork shows well what I mean by a child who is happy and positive despite his crumbling surroundings; the only remaining building is in disrepair but the child sees only the water and the fun he can have with it.