Looking back on 2025

Wow, what a year. I was able to create a lot of work and show it in beautiful places. Throughout the year, I focused on the series of origami animals, occasionally combined with a matching postcard. I am very enthusiastic about using patterns in both the foreground and background, as it enriches the paintings. I also really enjoyed folding origami animals from large sheets of paper that I painted patterns on myself. I started doing this when I first had a large studio in the Biotoop in Haren, a large creative breeding ground. The large figures are folded from paper measuring 150 x 150 cm, ten times the size of most origami paper. I paint the patterns using stencils and stamps or freehand. In my current studio, I also have the space, and for the exhibition in the large upstairs room at Pictura, I folded hares and dogs.

My work often contains references to other works of art. When I started folding the origami dogs, I was reminded of a work of art by Merijn Bolink, who had an exhibition at the Groninger Museum in 2000 (at that time, I had yet to start art school). He created a large Labrador with 17 small dogs, each of which refers to one of the organs. That determined the number of origami dogs I folded.

During the first half of this year, my work was on display at Museum Belvédère as part of an exhibition about Jan Mankes. I participated in group exhibitions in Haarlem, Rotterdam, Berlin, and Leeuwarden; a duo exhibition in Appingedam at De Kunsthof; and finally a solo exhibition at Pictura in Groningen (currently on display). In addition, I also had a page in De Grote Nederlandse Kunstkalender (The Great Dutch Art Calendar) and online presentations at the Amuse editions of Galerie Wilms. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people I have had the privilege of working with, who have shown my work, who have visited and viewed it, the people who have bought work and those who took the trouble to send me a nice message. Thank you.

1. ‘Goodbye Cats’, oil on panel, 32.5 x 39.5 cm, 2025

With a painting by Bart van der Leck on the postcard

2. ‘Goodbye Cats’ #2, oil on canvas, 90 x 130 cm, 2025

3. ‘Goodbye dog’ #3, oil on panel, 30 x 24 cm, 2025

4. ‘Goodbye hare’ #4, oil on panel, 40.5 x 35.5 cm, 2025

5. ‘Hello hare’ #13, oil on panel, 40.5 x 35.5 cm, 2025

6. ‘Hello pig’, oil on canvas, 90 x 130 cm, 2025

7. Hares, folded from self-painted paper, 2025

8. Dogs, folded from self-painted paper, 2025 Inspired by a work by artist Merijn Bolink (see last photo).