Gijs Pape

My work is described as non objective art. Most of my work consists of paintings and drawings, but my most recent works are three dimensional objects.

I graduated as a painter from the academy of arts in Tilburg (The Netherlands) in 2001. Since that time I've been working in the city of Eindhoven in the southern part of The Netherlands and since 2009 in the city of Utrecht where my studio is situated. I've exhibited my work in several gallery’s in the Netherlands, Germany and France and co-founded an artists group in Eindhoven.

If you're interested in my work you are welcome to visit my studio please contact me to make an appointment.

Origin

There are no untouched open spaces in The Netherlands any more. Living in a densely populated country influence the landscape. Everything here has been touched by human activity. Architectural shapes are a key element in his work. Urbanisation as an object, buildings become sculptures and are striped from there context. Placed in emptiness they take on a new meaning, impressive, intimidating, immense as if they won’t yield for no one, and being obstructive is elevated to a function on its own. My work attempts to find a balance between man made structures and our natural boundary’s. The outline of man made forms are placed with in a uncommon perspective and thereby conveys a new meaning. Our surroundings dictate our point of view and the viewpoint of urban landscape leaves no escape. "The way he works, resembles a well known perspective given by Wassily Kandinsky, in his essay «Über das Geistige in der Kunst». “«Jedes Kunstwerk ist Kind seiner Zeit, oft ist es Mutter unserer Gefühle.»” Thijs van Kimmenade writes about Pape; “It’s not just his work that imposes a question, it’s more as if the question posted, implies a new question on it’s own, that’s the message and that’s what Pape’s work is about.”