Annieo Klaas

When I was growing up in Senegal, I would climb to the roof of my apartment building to sit and drink my coffee in the afternoon sunlight. Now the sun streams through the windows in my studio, casting golden rays on the walls and getting caught in the curtains. It saturates them with a yellow glow and distorts the shadows cast by the trees outside.

I am drawn to these quiet, transitional images because they are invitations to sit in the present moment. I can’t hold them in my hands or keep them in a box for later, but I paint them because that pursuit creates something beautiful. I use layered color and soft edges to create a sense of atmosphere that borders on the surreal. Windows and veils recur as motifs—not just as formal devices, but as metaphors for perception itself. What happens when we focus on the world around us instead of our spiraling thoughts? My paintings echo the style of the literary movement of magical realism, blurring the boundary between interior and exterior, reality and fantasy. They subtly heighten the everyday and invite a sense of quiet wonder.

Though grounded in the domestic, my paintings are less about place than they are about feeling—spaces to rest in, look through, or get lost inside. They reflect my ongoing interest in the present moment as a site of both clarity and mystery.