Tijs Dragtsma (1992) - Hepburn and the Fawn's Hush

Audrey Hepburn looks out from the dark with the stillness she was always known for, a fawn pressed close against her neck. In this work almost nothing is given directly. The chignon, the bare shoulder, the famous eyes and the soft muzzle of the young deer surface only where the surface itself has been opened, a field of fine scratches that catches the light and holds her face together out of pure brightness against an otherwise untouched black. No paint. No print. No ink. The image is scratched into the surface of the acrylic glass, built through removal rather than addition, so that what we read as her face is really a field of individual marks, each one letting a little more light through, together forming a likeness that feels drawn in light itself. The image is always present, under any light, from any angle. But light does not create it, it sharpens it. Under direct light the scratches catch and reflect, the contrast deepens, the chignon gains weight and the fawn's fur seems to soften further into hers. Move around the piece and it reads differently from one angle to the next, without ever losing the image or returning to blankness. There is a quiet tenderness built into this pairing, one of the most photographed faces of the twentieth century, caught not performing for the camera but simply holding something small and trusting against her. The fawn does not know who she is. It only knows the warmth of her neck. That unguarded moment, stripped of glamour, is what the piece keeps, and what the removal of material lets emerge. From across a room the portrait reads as calm and whole, almost photographic in its hush. Step closer and that certainty dissolves into a field of individual scratches, each one too small to carry meaning alone, together forming a face that seems to hold still just long enough to be seen. This piece 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. "Some faces need no colour. Only light, and what has been taken away to find it." 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.

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