Tijs Dragtsma (1992) - Reaching out
03
days
16
hours
07
minutes
51
seconds
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€ 100
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Tijs Dragtsma (Netherlands), 2026, Reaching out, mixed media on acrylic glass, original edition, 51×51 cm, black and white, with frame, in excellent condition, sold direct from the artist.
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Description from the seller
HOLIDAY SHIPPING*
Reaching out is a contemporary artwork about longing, connection, and the moment a hand crosses the distance between two worlds.
A single hand rises out of the darkness, fingers spread, palm open. The arm beneath it thins and dissolves, as if the gesture itself is the only part that matters. It is not grasping. It is offering, or asking, and the image refuses to say which. That refusal is the heart of the work.
No paint. No print. No ink. The hand appears through controlled surface damage on acrylic glass. Each scratch catches the light at its own angle, so the gesture sharpens and softens as the viewer moves. From a distance, the hand is monumental, a bright signal in an ocean of black. Step closer, and it loosens into a field of fine marks, half form, half static, reaching and dissolving at once.
A reaching hand is one of the oldest images we have. It is the first thing we do as children and the last kind of contact we hope for. Stripped of a face, a body, a context, the gesture becomes everyone's. The darkness around it is not empty. It is the distance every hand has to cross.
Reaching out 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.
"A hand that reaches is a question asked of the dark."
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 thousands 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 is what gives this work its life. 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, recedes, almost disappears into the darkness from which it came. 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 retreats, leaving only a whisper of form. It is within that movement, between visibility and disappearance, 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.
*All purchases paid for between 3 August and 16 August will not be shipped within the usual three working days due to my holiday.
These purchases will be carefully packed and shipped between 17 August and 23 August at the latest. After your purchase, I will personally keep you informed about the expected shipping date.
Thank you for your understanding.
HOLIDAY SHIPPING*
Reaching out is a contemporary artwork about longing, connection, and the moment a hand crosses the distance between two worlds.
A single hand rises out of the darkness, fingers spread, palm open. The arm beneath it thins and dissolves, as if the gesture itself is the only part that matters. It is not grasping. It is offering, or asking, and the image refuses to say which. That refusal is the heart of the work.
No paint. No print. No ink. The hand appears through controlled surface damage on acrylic glass. Each scratch catches the light at its own angle, so the gesture sharpens and softens as the viewer moves. From a distance, the hand is monumental, a bright signal in an ocean of black. Step closer, and it loosens into a field of fine marks, half form, half static, reaching and dissolving at once.
A reaching hand is one of the oldest images we have. It is the first thing we do as children and the last kind of contact we hope for. Stripped of a face, a body, a context, the gesture becomes everyone's. The darkness around it is not empty. It is the distance every hand has to cross.
Reaching out 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.
"A hand that reaches is a question asked of the dark."
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 thousands 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 is what gives this work its life. 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, recedes, almost disappears into the darkness from which it came. 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 retreats, leaving only a whisper of form. It is within that movement, between visibility and disappearance, 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.
*All purchases paid for between 3 August and 16 August will not be shipped within the usual three working days due to my holiday.
These purchases will be carefully packed and shipped between 17 August and 23 August at the latest. After your purchase, I will personally keep you informed about the expected shipping date.
Thank you for your understanding.
Details
Artist
Tijs Dragtsma (1992)
Sold with frame
Yes
Sold by
Direct from the artist
Edition
Original
Title of artwork
Reaching out
Technique
Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Netherlands
Year
2026
Condition
Excellent condition
Colour
Black, White
Height
51 cm
Width
51 cm
Style
Contemporary
Period
2020+
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