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.