Broodje Aap
2025
25x29cm
oil on canvas

Urban legends are strange, terrifying, or mysterious stories that circulate in contemporary society. They often take place in urban settings and feature distinctly modern elements, which set them apart from traditional folklore. The study of urban legends is multidisciplinary, intersecting anthropology, sociology, psychology, and literature. These stories are passed down through oral tradition or spread online, constantly reshaped as they travel. While their details may vary, many share the same emotional core—fear of unknown creatures, environmental pollution, racial prejudice, or rapid social change. They reveal how collective anxiety spreads through imagination, embedding itself in the fabric of everyday life.

In the Broodje Aap series, I translate these narratives into immersive visual experiences, constructing dreamlike and unsettling scenes where reality blurs with fiction. Through figurative painting, I explore the psychological weight carried by these myths, capturing their eerie familiarity and quiet unease. The works invite viewers into a liminal space—neither fully real nor entirely imagined—where the mundane is subtly transformed into something uncanny.

都市传说是当代社会流传的奇异、恐怖或神秘的故事。它们通常发生在城市环境中，并带有鲜明的现代元素，使其与传统民间传说区别开来。都市传说研究涉及多学科，涵盖人类学、社会学、心理学和文学。这些故事通过口口相传或网络传播，并在传播过程中不断被重塑。虽然它们的细节可能各不相同，但许多故事都蕴含着相同的情感内核——对未知生物、环境污染、种族偏见或快速的社会变革的恐惧。它们揭示了集体焦虑如何通过想象蔓延，并深深植根于日常生活的肌理之中。

在“Broodje Aap”系列中，我将这些叙事转化为沉浸式的视觉体验，构建出如梦似幻、令人不安的场景，现实与虚构在此交织。通过具象绘画，我探索这些神话所承载的心理重量，捕捉它们诡异的熟悉感和静谧的不安。这些作品将观众带入一个既不完全真实也不完全想象的阈限空间，在这里，平凡的事物被巧妙地转化为某种不可思议的事物。