The world of classical myth is the main source of inspiration in Prinsen's drawings. It is a world with which we lost direct contact. Drawing then becomes a journey into the unknown yet indirectly known; giving it shape by enacting it in our times; meeting up with the pure unmediated energy of this archaic era and thereby revitalising primeval energies within ourselves.

Locked up in the estrangement of contemporary abstract society, myth and magic belonging to the dawn of our culture give us the energetic impulse of a new beginning: buoyant, playful, childish, impish, innocent.

"Every artwork starts from an idea which takes shape in the lines of a drawing. So drawing is fundamental to the work: it reflects the rhythm and logic of the artistic process and also mirrors the impressions left behind in our soul by the pressure of outside reality. While drawing, we are as it were inhaling (external) reality and exhaling (internal) reality. To me external reality comprises not only the so called natural world but also the history of art and other

components of culture. We are always interacting with historical forms. The main stream of artistic development has always been constituted by this conversation with the work of our predecessors. To me this is a fundamental aspect of creative activity. For instance the mythological drawings are a resumption of classical themes. The lines of the dry point etchings differ from the lines of the drawings on paper because they are drawn into the copper plate with force. The drawings on paper show a lighter, more playful touch."