Leo Klootwijk

I have been painting on and off for more than 30 years, always abstract.

I have no formal art training, I do as I please.

I work in oils only, which I apply lavishly.

Sometimes so lavishly that it almost is as if my work is a mixture of painting and sculpting.

Hence my paintings take many months to dry.

Before I became a full time artist I persued a succesful career in business.

This has brought me around the world and within many industries.

I bring this experience along in my practice.

It has shaped my vision on the world.

I paint what I call existential landscapes.

Although these can also be seascapes, skyscapes or spacescapes (does that word even exist?).

I am intrigued by the vastness of the universe, both in space and in time.

I am acutely aware that we are only temporary spectators in the arena of nature, defined as everything that surrounds us.

And we occupy just a tiny speck.

We have only been here for a very small portion of time, and our time is limited.

This goes for mankind, but even more so for us as individuals.

In my paintings I try to come to grips with this.

Our daily struggles are all quite relative, but very important to us.

By painting I feel I can connect with the vastness of nature, and go beyond the daily tolls.

We are an arrogant species: we believe we can tame and fully comprehend nature.

We, I believe, cannot.

Nature wins, always.

We have to live with and in it, we are part of it for as long (or short) as it takes.

My paintings are a way of coping with this existential situation.

Hence existential landscapes.