Tijs Dragtsma (1992) - Medusa Caught in the Shield

Perseus stands with his back to us, his curled head turned away, unwilling to meet the gaze he carries. Only his raised arm and the edge of his shoulder catch the light, the rest of him kept in shadow, a hero reduced to outline and tension. Everything he is happens through what he refuses to look at directly. The shield he holds becomes the true subject. Within its mirrored rim, Medusa's face rises out of the dark, her living snakes catching light strand by strand, her eyes fixed outward at the viewer instead of at him. The myth's old trick, that to look upon her is to turn to stone, is folded into the work itself: you are the one meeting her eyes now, not Perseus. No paint. No print. No ink. The image is scratched into the surface of the acrylic glass, built through controlled surface damage rather than pigment, a field of individual marks that only becomes a face, a hand, a serpent's coil when it catches light. The image is always present, it does not need light to exist. Light does not create the image. It sharpens it. Under direct light the scratches catch the light, the contrast deepens, the snakes seem to move. From another angle the same work settles into quiet, the shield dimming back toward the black it was cut from. It reads differently from different angles, without ever losing the image. From across a room the piece reads as pure drama, a single lit disc suspended in darkness. Step closer and that disc dissolves into a field of fine scratches, each one placed, none of them accidental, the whole held together only by the eye's will to see a face in the light. This work continues the Art with Scratch series by Tijs Dragtsma, in which imagery is constructed through controlled surface damage rather than pigment or print. A visual language where damage is not destruction, but structure. "He looked away. She looks straight at you." About Art with Scratch Art with Scratch is a body of work in which the image is not drawn, but released. Carved line by line into a deep black surface, each work emerges through countless precise scratches that catch the light and bring form out of darkness. From a distance, the image appears almost photographic. Powerful, recognisable and full of presence. Yet up close, the work dissolves into a dense field of individual marks. Fine, fragile and almost weightless. What seemed solid reveals itself as a delicate web of lines, each one a deliberate gesture, each one essential to the whole. Light does not create the image. It sharpens it. The black surface absorbs, while the scratched lines reflect. As light shifts across the surface, the image breathes. From one angle the figure stands clear and defined. From another it softens and settles back toward the darkness from which it came, without ever disappearing. Under a focused spotlight, the contrast deepens and the image takes on a sculptural, almost luminous quality. What makes this medium so compelling is its quiet tension. The act of scratching is direct and irreversible. Every line is a decision that cannot be undone. Yet the result is not harsh. It is intimate, atmospheric and alive with movement. Hardness becomes softness. Destruction becomes creation. Absence becomes presence. In works such as this portrait, the figure is never fully fixed. Through the interplay of line, light and shadow, the image shifts with perspective and atmosphere. At certain moments, the subject seems to step forward out of the black. At others, it settles back into stillness. It is within that movement, between sharpness and calm, that the work comes alive. Like all materials touched by time, the surface carries its own quiet life. Each scratch holds a moment, a breath, a gesture. Together they form not just an image, but a presence, one that continues to reveal itself with every change of light. About the Artist My name is Tijs Dragtsma, founder of TD Fine Art Studio. As an artist, I am driven by a constant desire to explore new visual languages. I do not see art as a fixed style, but as an evolving field of discovery where material, structure, light and emotion come together. My work often begins with a simple question. How can a material speak in a new way. How can hardness become intimacy. How can precision create emotion. That search lies at the heart of everything I create. Within TD Fine Art Studio, each body of work is approached as its own world, with its own logic, atmosphere and visual identity. Some works are built through rhythm, repetition and structure. Others emerge through absence, shadow, reflection or tension. What connects them is a shared commitment to originality, clarity and emotional presence. I am fascinated by contrast. Between strength and fragility. Between control and feeling. Between what is visible and what is left open to interpretation. My goal is not simply to make an image, but to create a work that holds attention, invites reflection and continues to reveal itself over time. TD Fine Art Studio is the space in which these explorations come together. It is not only a studio, but an evolving artistic universe shaped by curiosity, precision and the ambition to create work that feels distinctive, intentional and alive. This listing contains AI-generated visualisations. Please refer to the original photographs to assess the actual condition of the object.

Estimate:£2,919.88

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