Tijs Dragtsma (1992) - Broken Into Being
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Tijs Dragtsma; Broken Into Being (2026), an original edition, mixed media artwork on acrylic glass, 51×51 cm, signed, in excellent condition and sold with its frame.
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Description from the seller
HOLIDAY SHIPPING*
Broken Into Being is a contemporary artwork about truth, vulnerability and inner conflict. About the moment a person stops resisting what is already breaking through.
The face in this work is not in pain. It is calm, almost surrendered. The skull opens not through force but through release, and from somewhere deep inside, a single point of light escapes. Small, precise, inevitable. It does not flood the image. It simply arrives.
No paint. No print. No ink. The figure emerges through controlled surface damage on acrylic glass. What appears to be a skull breaking open is constructed entirely through removal, through precise scratches that each catch the light at their own angle. As the viewer shifts position, the image moves between clarity and quiet, between a face and a field of marks, while each scratch catches and releases the light across the surface.
From a distance, the work carries weight. Monumental, still, confrontational in its quiet. Step closer, and the figure dissolves into its own structure. The portrait becomes a field of controlled marks. What looked like breakage reveals itself as construction.
The calm of the face is the most unsettling part. There is no resistance here, no performance of strength being held in place. Only the rare and difficult stillness of someone who has decided to let the truth through, regardless of what it costs.
Broken Into Being 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 things only become visible once the surface gives way."
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.
*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*
Broken Into Being is a contemporary artwork about truth, vulnerability and inner conflict. About the moment a person stops resisting what is already breaking through.
The face in this work is not in pain. It is calm, almost surrendered. The skull opens not through force but through release, and from somewhere deep inside, a single point of light escapes. Small, precise, inevitable. It does not flood the image. It simply arrives.
No paint. No print. No ink. The figure emerges through controlled surface damage on acrylic glass. What appears to be a skull breaking open is constructed entirely through removal, through precise scratches that each catch the light at their own angle. As the viewer shifts position, the image moves between clarity and quiet, between a face and a field of marks, while each scratch catches and releases the light across the surface.
From a distance, the work carries weight. Monumental, still, confrontational in its quiet. Step closer, and the figure dissolves into its own structure. The portrait becomes a field of controlled marks. What looked like breakage reveals itself as construction.
The calm of the face is the most unsettling part. There is no resistance here, no performance of strength being held in place. Only the rare and difficult stillness of someone who has decided to let the truth through, regardless of what it costs.
Broken Into Being 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 things only become visible once the surface gives way."
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.
*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
Broken Into Being
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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