About
Case Greenfield
Artist. Philosopher. Human.
The work of Case Greenfield evolves around the idea of ‘mind models’, “the realities that we create to shape ourselves”.
As a contemporary artist and philosopher, he likes to call it postmodern realistic art. It’s all about the interplay between experience, imagination, and reality – whatever reality is, exactly.
His work, typically, explores the relations between reality and our interpretations of it: “Perception makes sense.” Mind models (something like mental constructs, schemata in psychology) you may call perspectives, our perspectives on reality, based on our imagination.
Imagination always has an emotional touch, meaning, identity, based on hope and fear. He uses artistic expression to encourage emotional affirmation of the beholder. And personal emotions and especially mind models are always strongly influenced by groups and society (hence contemporary artist).
With his art Case aims to bring joy from beauty, and affirmation of who we are – identity and meaning through narratives, both individually and as human beings. Attempting to reduce existential loneliness, his art helps us feel that we belong in the life that we want to live. That is what he means with ‘Warm Grounding‘.
Case asks his audience: “How purposefully do you create your daily reality?“
With a background in theoretical physics and interest in neuroscience, as an artist Case explores the boundaries between modern technology, science, art & philosophy: “If technology and science are the domain of reality, let art and philosophy be the domain of the realities that we create to shape ourselves.”
Keywords? Reality, experience, realities, perspectives, creativity, imagination, inspiration, identity, meaning, beauty, value, humanity.
Postmodern Realist
Is Case a typically postmodern artist? Well, not really. Yes, in the sense that he does see art as a useful means to escape from the limitations of reality, but …
“My art is inspired by our irresistible urge to color outside the lines of reality” — Case Greenfield
Artistic Philosophy and Voice
Philosophy – Case’s art expresses the messy mixture of the four realities: universal reality, scientific reality, social reality and personal reality or, more subjectively, the three realities: our daily reality (what we do), our self-created realities (our needs and desires) and a new, dawning reality (the brutal facts of the rapidly changing world around us). It basically springs off ideas of philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Bertrand Russell and esp. Ludwig Wittgenstein: instead of trying to find the limits of objectively valid knowledge (Kritik der reinen Vernuft) or trying to find the logical structure of reality in the logical structure of language (the correspondence theory from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus) by using logic and language — based on insights from neuroscience and other sciences (eg. Antonio Damasio or Eric Kandel) on the workings of our brain, Case uses art to try to somehow merge objective ratio and subjective emotion into a consistent yet messy whole (because otherwise it is hard to bear for us: warm grounding), taking eg. the work of Wittgenstein as a source of inspiration (like eg. artists like Steve Reich and Barnett Newmann did), rather than taking philosophy as an explanation of reality. Accepting that ethical expressions – eg. about good and evil – are not objectively about reality but are a subjective condition for the realities that we create, much like Russian philosophers Leo Tolstoj and Fjodor Dostojevski did, Case prefers not to use language, but rather art to express his ideas, giving his art an almost therapeutic working.
Additionally, there is a strong psychological side in ‘mental models’. Mental models easily compare with schemata in psychology: “patterns of thought or behavior that organize categories of information and the relationships among them or mental structures of preconceived ideas, frameworks representing aspects of the world, or systems in our mind of organizing and perceiving new information”. Schemata then lead to behavioral scripts: “sequences of expected behaviors for a given situation, including default standards for the actors, props, setting, and sequence of events that are normally expected to occur in a particular situation”. In his art, Case tries to express the fuzzy battle in our heads between unconscious, unplanned feelings, thoughts and behavior (Kahneman’s ‘system 1’) springing from schemata and expressed in scripts (social and personal realities) on the one hand and conscious, planned feelings, thoughts and behavior (Kahneman’s ‘system 2’) derived from universal and scientific realities on the other hand.
Voice – The mixture of realities is expressed in his art by mixing well-thought intent and spontaneous expression in the moment of creation, and by using mixed media techniques, such as acrylic, pastel and oil paint, markers and spray, combining different color palettes, graphic and painting styles, abstract and realistic elements, different scales and more, into a varied yet consistent whole – creating artworks with both an identifiable tension and an identifiable feeling of comfort, that he likes to call “Warm Grounding“. Especially in design, Case does sometimes use digital techniques, and, since the Poppies project (2022), Case also experiments with AI – and eventually probably robotics – in the art creation process.
Case Greenfield’s art expresses the messy mixture of our daily reality, our self-created realities and a new, dawning reality.
The work of Case Greenfield evolves around the idea of ‘mind models’, “the realities that we create to shape ourselves”.
As a contemporary artist and philosopher, he likes to call it postmodern realistic art. It’s all about the interplay between experience, imagination, and reality – whatever reality is, exactly.
His work, typically, explores the relations between reality and our interpretations of it: “Perception makes sense.” Mind models (something like mental constructs, schemata in psychology) you may call perspectives, our perspectives on reality, based on our imagination.
Imagination always has an emotional touch, meaning, identity, based on hope and fear. He uses artistic expression to encourage emotional affirmation of the beholder. And personal emotions and especially mind models are always strongly influenced by groups and society (hence contemporary artist).
With his art Case aims to bring joy from beauty, and affirmation of who we are – identity and meaning through narratives, both individually and as human beings. Attempting to reduce existential loneliness, his art helps us feel that we belong in the life that we want to live. That is what he means with ‘Warm Grounding‘.
Case asks his audience: “How purposefully do you create your daily reality?“
With a background in theoretical physics and interest in neuroscience, as an artist Case explores the boundaries between modern technology, science, art & philosophy: “If technology and science are the domain of reality, let art and philosophy be the domain of the realities that we create to shape ourselves.”
Keywords? Reality, experience, realities, perspectives, creativity, imagination, inspiration, identity, meaning, beauty, value, humanity.
Postmodern Realist
Is Case a typically postmodern artist? Well, not really. Yes, in the sense that he does see art as a useful means to escape from the limitations of reality, but …
“My art is inspired by our irresistible urge to color outside the lines of reality” — Case Greenfield
Artistic Philosophy and Voice
Philosophy – Case’s art expresses the messy mixture of the four realities: universal reality, scientific reality, social reality and personal reality or, more subjectively, the three realities: our daily reality (what we do), our self-created realities (our needs and desires) and a new, dawning reality (the brutal facts of the rapidly changing world around us). It basically springs off ideas of philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Bertrand Russell and esp. Ludwig Wittgenstein: instead of trying to find the limits of objectively valid knowledge (Kritik der reinen Vernuft) or trying to find the logical structure of reality in the logical structure of language (the correspondence theory from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus) by using logic and language, based on insights from neuroscience and other sciences (eg. Antonio Damasio or Eric Kandel) on the workings of our brain, Case uses art to try to somehow merge objective ratio and subjective emotion into a consistent yet messy whole (because otherwise it is hard to bear for us: warm grounding), taking eg. the work of Wittgenstein as a source of inspiration (like eg. artists like Steve Reich and Barnett Newmann did), rather than taking philosophy as an explanation of reality. Accepting that ethical expressions – eg. about good and evil – are not objectively about reality but are a subjective condition for the realities that we create, much like Russian philosophers Leo Tolstoj and Fjodor Dostojevski did, Case prefers not to use language, but rather art to express his ideas, giving his art an almost therapeutic working.
Additionally, there is a strong psychological side in ‘mental models’. Mental models easily compare with schemata in psychology: “patterns of thought or behavior that organize categories of information and the relationships among them or mental structures of preconceived ideas, frameworks representing aspects of the world, or systems in our mind of organizing and perceiving new information”. Schemata then lead to behavioral scripts: “sequences of expected behaviors for a given situation, including default standards for the actors, props, setting, and sequence of events that are normally expected to occur in a particular situation”. In his art, Case tries to express the fuzzy battle in our heads between unconscious, unplanned feelings, thoughts and behavior (Kahneman’s ‘system 1’) springing from schemata and expressed in scripts (social and personal realities) on the one hand and conscious, planned feelings, thoughts and behavior (Kahneman’s ‘system 2’) derived from universal and scientific realities on the other hand.
Voice – The mixture of realities is expressed in his art by mixing well-thought intent and spontaneous expression in the moment of creation, and by using mixed media techniques, such as acrylic, pastel and oil paint, markers and spray, combining different color palettes, graphic and painting styles, abstract and realistic elements, different scales and more, into a varied yet consistent whole – creating artworks with both an identifiable tension and an identifiable feeling of comfort, that he likes to call “Warm Grounding“. Especially in design, Case does sometimes use digital techniques, and, since the Poppies project (2022), Case also experiments with AI – and eventually probably robotics – in the art creation process.
Case Greenfield’s art expresses the messy mixture of our daily reality, our self-created realities and a new, dawning reality.
Background
Work
Dutch born artist, residing in Amsterdam, NL. Case works both in his Amsterdam studio and studios in the beautiful Mediterranean south of France. He frequently travels around the world to gain inspiration for his art, always looking for new places to discover.
(Image – Case’s very first workshop and very first artwork, 2020)
History
Trajectory
Wanting to become an artist at age 16, destiny pushed Case into a science education and business career. Finally, in 2020 at age 58, as a result of poor hearing and vision problems, Case decides to follow his passion and become an artist after all.
(Image – Case in Deadvlei, Namibia, summer 2022)
Background
Work
Dutch born artist, residing in Amsterdam, NL. Case works both in his Amsterdam studio and studios in the beautiful Mediterranean south of France. He frequently travels around the world to gain inspiration for his art, always looking for new places to discover.
History
Trajectory
Wanting to become an artist at age 16, destiny pushed Case into a science education and business career. Finally, in 2020 at age 58, as a result of poor hearing and vision problems, Case decides to follow his passion and become an artist after all.
Timeline
Artist life
Early artistic expressions
One funny fact is that Case’s teacher at primary school once noted on his report “Doesn’t dare to use a large sheet.” Must have been at age seven or eight.
At age fifteen to eighteen, Case did create a number of drawings and paintings, using the artist name Peter LukEs. Almost all of these works are gone. (There are a few works left from later periods, around 1990 to 2000, eg. the ‘wire men’ acrylic on paper drawings, still in possession by Case.) As far as known, only one work is left of the earlier 1970s period:
Rose - 1978, acrylic on canvas Private collection, Barcelona
Prior life
It’s in his blood …
In 1961, Kees Groeneveld is born, as the first of three sons, in Den Bosch – the city of Hieronymus Bosch – in The Netherlands, Europe. His father an R&D engineer in the Paccar (DAF) car factory, later a sales manager at Caterpillar. His mother a maternity nurse, later a house wife. Young Kees is raised in a most decent Christian tradition (Dutch Protestant “Gereformeerde” Church) but at 16 he decides to leave the cathechesis lessons, so his confession to the church never happens.
Kees ‘as a young man’ 
at 16 years old knows what he wants in life: to become an artist. He creates paintings and drawings, almost all of which are lost now. Yet, life took a different course. He grows up in a family and at a school where the sciences are appreciated at the cost of the humanities. But he never ceases to dream. Next to art, he develops a strong interest in philosophy. In 1979, Kees completed a 6-year classical grammar school education (gymnasium) in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. Next to humanities classes, focus and appreciation is on the sciences. Despite his nudged choice for a theoretical physics study at university, independent thinker Kees maintains a strong interest in arts and philosophy.
In 1980, Kees moves to Amsterdam and completes his theoretical physics and mathematics studies at the university in Amsterdam in 1986. In 1982 he journeys through Africa with two friends in an old army truck. Also, he is an enthusiastic mountain climber. Starting in 1987, during 22 years, until 2009, Kees works as an employee in diverse roles at several companies in the high-tech and management consulting industries, working with many and diverse customers globally.
In 2002, his father dies of leukemia, age 67. This seizes Kees heavily, giving room for the long existing tensions in his head from not pursuing his artistic passions. In 2005 he closes this period by writing a never published novel to process the grieve about his father’s death … and about the near death of his never pursued passion. As a result of a faulty medical diagnosis by his GP (physician), in 2009, Kees suffers of sudden deafness. After a few months his hearing magically comes back partially, but never fully recovers. A frightening experience, an existential turning point: he starts following his passions.
His sudden deafness is a game changer. Kees follows his business passion, always an independent thinker, pioneering with a creative and innovative spirit, and founds his own company, specializing in applying new technologies in organizations. As a result of his hearing problems from malfunction of his auditive cortex, in 2009 Kees starts studying neuroscience. In 2012, he founds a (not wildly successful) consulting business based on insights from neuroscience. In 2017, he founds an artificial intelligence (AI) business.
In 2020, he decides to seriously start his art practice, using the literal English translation of his Dutch name, Case Greenfield. In 2022, his mother dies of Alzheimer’s disease, age 87. This is a big blow for Case, but also an extra motivation for his art practice.