Made You Look: Mattijn Franssen

If you happen to stumble across Mattijn Franssen's Flickr account, you might be confused. Not because you're experiencing the early stages of senile dementia, or that you're an inherently dull-witted individual, but mainly because his photos don't look like everybody else's. While most of the Flickr massive post the usual fare — friends, family, travel photos, etc. — Franssen digs deeper, conjuring elaborate imagined worlds. He packages fantasy and escapism so well that it almost looks real (aside from the fact that he's often sporting a pair of wings, hanging out with hyenas, etc.). Franssen's scenes look like they've popped out of a Roger Dean or Storm Thorgerson album cover. And really, who wouldn't want to snoop around in that type of alternate dimension?

Another detail that makes Franssen's work so appealing is its human element. Casting himself as the protagonist in each piece, Franssen wanders through lands that mirror Tolkien's Middle Earth, or the dangerous, viking- and barbarian-infested environment of a Frank Frazetta painting. He's usually not alone either. Pino, his girl cat, is often at his side. There is obviously a dense narrative unfolding in each image. And in many cases, the images appear to be interconnected, or at least part of a related series. Being the inquisitive type that I am, I decided to contact Franssen to get a better understanding of these pieces.

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Matthew Newton: There's a distinct fantasy element at work in your photomontages. When did you begin creating these pieces and what inspired the idea?

Mattijn Franssen: Sometime in 2005 I started making montages as sketches for possible paintings. They turned out much better then I expected and they were fun to make — the freedom of altering the composition whenever and however I wanted was something I missed in oil painting. It gave me the feeling of being able to create anything i could imagine if I took the right photos. Religious art, old master paintings, mythology, sci-fi, storm, Indiana Jones (only Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Ash from the Evil Dead series — its things like these that inspire me. I like watching films, although they hardly ever live up to the expectations made by the on-set photos they release. I remember seeing a photo of a woman in a pool of corpses from the film Poltergeist when i was young and the scene in the film was nothing like what I had imagined from the photo. Now that's what I want to create — images that make your imagination run wild.

Making yourself the central character in these photomontages, you often depict yourself in the midst of either adventure, peril, or quiet moments of introspection. What prompted you to cast yourself as the protagonist in these pieces?

It's either adventures I'd like to experience or personal issues that I deal with. My work is about me, so I should be the leading character.

I also see a comic element in many of these pieces. For example, in your piece titled "Pyramids of the Sea," you and your cat are adrift in the ocean, looking somewhat content but also confused. Are these pieces intended to tell a story?

Yes, some think my work lacks humor. Maybe [my sense of humor] is a bit dark sometimes, but it's there. And symbolism, of course. The work [you reference] is part of a small fantasy story called The Messenger. But I think it also tells enough on its own about loneliness and isolation.

When I first saw your work, what appealed to me was its likeness to the epic album cover art from bands like Led Zeppelin, Yes, and Pink Floyd. Also, musical instruments are prominant in many of these pieces. How, if at all, are these pieces tied to music?

I make music. I play guitar, piano, and bass and I write and record songs sometimes. I make an image as a possible cover for an album that I never finish and some of my images I make as a visual for a song.

You also do illustration and work in oils and acrylics as a painter. Can you tell me a little bit about this work?

I like drawing without thinking, it leads to lovely bizarre creations. I did a few [illustrations] for magazines, but none that I'm really happy about because once I have to think about a drawing it goes wrong -- a strange glitch in my system that I still have to fix. Oil painting I always wanted to do, but always felt it would be to difficult for me, so I messed with acrylic for years without any success. I finally tried oil some 5 years ago. I havent mastered it at all, but I get much better results then I ever got with acrylic. Most of my oil paintings I see as practice for something amazing I hope to create one day. I just put a layer of gesso on a 100 x 120 cm canvas and I approach it like a drawing.

All artwork featured in this article was used with permission from the artist. Images are © 2006/2007 Mattijn Franssen, all rights reserved.