WHAT MOVES ME
Visual artist Marco Käller about his fascination for water, her people and their boats.
When I was 7 years old I sailed my first boat, a little yawl, on the river. As I grew older through the years the boats grew to sail bigger waters. As a boy steering my boat I felt a great freedom. For me the feeling of independence belongs to sailing. In my works of art I try to express that feeling.
This passion for the sea let me to meet people from all walks of life. From recreational sailors, sport sailors, professional fishermen to captains of the navy and merchant fleet. They all share the same fascination: The sea. Staring at the endless sea, always changing her face, never the same. When being landlocked there is always the underlying desire to go back to sea.
Personally and artistically I understand this feeling, but at the same time it keeps fascinating me. What makes it that fast amounts of water for some represent a fearsome and dangerous place, while to others it’s a limitless world of, freedom, fun and opportunity, a place where they truly feel alive? There are fast amounts of water and numerous ways in which people making use of its services. Oceans, seas and rivers have always connected the world, but at the same time have been at the center of conflict. The sea touches many lives, it connects and divides at the same time. As a person and as an artist these themes fascinate me, I love to hear, experience and read stories about the sea and the people who dwell in, on, or around them. After living for years at the riverside in our own designed maritime house, my wife Käthi and I moved to the coast in the north of The Netherlands. The attraction of the sea and to surround me by its people made us move to Makkum, a coastal town in Fryslân, The Netherlands.
Fryslân has a a lot of water, from small creeks, bigger lakes and islands. Sailing is a dominant part of the local culture. Village teams are sailing regattas in traditional cargo boats, tuned as Admiral Cuppers. From the shore the fellow villagers cheer on their sailors.
The fascination for water and the sea runs deep through their roots. Wonderful stories about living with the sea, wandering the sands at low tide, catching scrimps on their fishing boats and fishing up wooden parts of shipwrecks.
Hearing and experiencing this brings me great inspiration, new forms and materials to express myself. After so many years being engaged with this subject it is still growing to more. Every day I learn about the sea and I hope I’ll get enough time in my lifetime to work all this out in paintings, sculptures and architectural design projects.
SINCE 1956
- Born in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
- Attended the art school in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and graduated at ARTEZ.
- Took classes at Anton van Geffen at the Theatre School Arnhem.
- Scenographer from 1981 to 1992.
- Also art teacher at the Heldring College in Zetten from 1981 to 1996.
- Founded in that period with Käthi Habig a private experimental theatre house in a former Delft Blue Factory: Theater Spelbeeld in Nijmegen.
- After this period in 1992 he continued as a visual artist and designer.
- From 1995 to 2011 he lived and worked in his house and art studio in Malden.
- Opened in 2007 Gallery and Art Studio Marco Käller in Marina Makkum near IJsselmeer and the sea.
- Lives and works from 2011 in Makkum, FR