Kristiaan's work aims to show a reality that does not solely arise from what the eye perceives. The presence of natural elements such as air, water, and earth is communicated in part by the emptiness surrounding them. Negative space determines the form and gives meaning to what would otherwise be missing. Each work involves a contemplative removal of what is not essential to its existence. Thus a landscape scene without trees can still speak through the shadows and the patterns that light and space emphasize.