Bruidsjapon op de rug gezien aan een balustrade uitkijkend op het altaar van Ons' Lieve heer op Solder, links zit een naakte man, rechts een naakte vrouw 2000 - 2003

Tom van Heel's photograph captures a bridal gown positioned on a balcony overlooking the altar of Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, with nude figures flanking the scene. The composition is a puzzle. I love the dress. It's ghostly and present at the same time. It feels as though Van Heel wasn't trying to conceal his process. The way the light catches the fabric, creating these almost liquid textures, reveals a deep fascination with the material itself. Look at the folds in the skirt, how they gather and pool. It reminds me of a painter layering colors, each stroke building on the last, creating depth and movement. There's a push and pull between the sacred and the profane, the tangible and the ethereal. It makes me think of someone like Paula Rego, with her knack for turning the familiar into something unsettling and deeply psychological. Art is, after all, a conversation across time, an embrace of ambiguity, where questions often matter more than answers.