Arjan Paijers

My art is expressive and abstract. And although my paintings don’t depict people, the themes I work with are the essence of human being. Themes like joy and sadness, meeting people and losing them, love, pain or the search for a balanced life.

Rather than a image of something I’ve seen or experienced, I consider my paintings to be a world on their own. My works are often full of contrast, dark shapes and bright earth tones. The worlds I create look rocky and mysterious, and often feel like a rough landscape.

When painting, I never know how a painting will look in the end. My art starts to exist as soon as I pick up my brush and paint the first stroke. From that moment on, the dialogue between the canvas and me begins and an abstract world comes alive.

Like instrumental music, my paintings are there to be explored by the viewer to experience a personal story, because we all see things in our own way. That’s how we create our own unique and personal stories, and how I create unique and personal paintings.

Through the years, my art has been exhibited in various places, like gallery’s and festivals. Some personal highlights were group exhibitions at the University of Osnabrück (2008), Stedelijk Museum Zwolle (2009), a painting performance at Zwarte Cross (2012) and Koppelkerk Bredevoort (2022). In 2022 my art made it to national television when I reached the finals for the Dutch TV-show De Nieuwe Vermeer.


Photo: Ruth Eiting

Education

Summerschool Cultural Business
Artez Zwolle
2017

Master of Arts and Design
Windesheim Zwolle
2004-2009

Spatial Designer
Cibap Zwolle
2000-2004