Dutch artist De Jonge's elegant use of line and strength of color gives the viewer a great sense of depth and modulating space. He looks at this exploration of color as a painterly Nirvana; an expression of an overall blissful state.
BORN
1975 Utrecht, The Netherlands
Artist Statement
The Initial Spark
I always start working with small sketches, sometimes on small pieces of paper that were left over from a previous work. Usually I just start looking for formal relations, intuitively almost as with 'ecrire automatique', which the surrealists applied (Masson/Tanguy and others); just reaching within myself as I move my pencil. Do I find something substantial? If I do, I'll work with these forms and repeat the pattern; adjusting it over and over until I find the drawing/composition that fits and matches the initial spark. It really is about this spark; the spark that remains a mystery; without this spark there's no art. The inspiration determines the start of the work and the meaning of the lines/composition. The inspiration is all-determining. The execution of the work strives to maintain this original initial spark; to enlarge it and to make it understandable to the viewer.
On Color
I like to see a color as an abstract quantity. You cannot imagine the end of a color when you say red, for instance. Think of this impossibility to define the quantity of a color, as you experience it in your mind; then combine this with a specific tone of color and you've got my idea of the quality of color. For me it is so that I sometimes close my eyes and experience an overwhelming flux of colors; for example when listening to music I can experience the vision of numerous different colors flowing freely. Each of these colors has a very specific value of recognition in my memory and actual experience. These colors do not refer to any concrete reality or experience that is outside the color itself. The color contains its own base; is its own axiom. I like to grant the color a true life of its own. Imagine the light of a star coming to you. You can still see this light, even though it has travelled over a million light years. But the star sending it to you has already vanished; there's only the light. So I see colors in my mind that shine like the colors of that star.
Thoughts on the Progression of My Work
My work is developing into increasingly complex and layered expression of meanings. I am gaining more and more insight in composition; in the interplay of form and its effect on the spectator as well as in the psychology of perceiving images. Also the depth of my spirit and understanding of, for example, what heaven could be and what my experience of God is, religion and the Self, is expanding; these acquisitions of knowledge are mixed with experience and artistic growth.
It's my aim now to always express, above all, essentials like: truthfulness/redemption/love/infinity; but this never without great enjoyment of my skill and stretching the material to the limits of its possibilities.
~ JOOST DE JONGE
EDUCATION
1999-2002 BFA with Honours, School of the Arts Utrecht
2000-2001 Facultat del Bellas Artes, Universitat de Barcelona
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010 Espacio Atlantico, art fair, Vigo Spain, AM-gallery
2009 Open Art Fair, Galerie Fondation Vromans, Utrecht
- Grand Opening, Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
- "Volute Fantasy" Galerie Fondation Vromans, Utrecht
- "Fases de Iluminacion" Ana Mercader Gallery, Roquetas de Mar/Almeria/Espana
2008 Affordable Art Fair, Autumn collection, London, James Kinmont
- Summer Group Show, Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
- Art London, presented by James Kinmont Fine Art Ltd.
- Open Art Fair, Galerie Fondation Vromans
- "Building," Utrecht Galerie/Fondation Vromans
2007 The Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
- Groupshow at Galerie Vromans, The Netherlands.
- Art London with James Kinmont Fine Art Ltd.
- Affordable Art Fair London, with James Kinmont Fine Art Ltd.
- Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam, with James Kinmont Fine Art Ltd.
- Miart, Galleria Studio Legale, Milan,Italy.
- Arte Fiera Bologna, Galleria Studio Legale, Bologna,Italy.
2006 Arttissima 13, Galleria Studio Legale, Turin, Italy.
- Art Verona, Galleria Studio Legale, Verona, Italy.
- Presentation adjoining Dale Chihuly, The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, USA
- MiArt 2006, Galleria Studio Legale, Milan, Italy
- The Same Origin, Gallery Krijger+Katwijk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2005 20:15, Gallery of Galleria Studio Legale, Caserta, Italy
2004 Willem Kerseboom Fine Arts (artfair autotron), Rosmalen, The Netherlands
2002 Gallery of Art Agency Rijbroeck, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2001 Gallery of Art Agency Rijbroeck, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Art Solidari Contra la Sida, "La Casa Elizalde" Barcelona, Spain
1999 Galerie Reflex, Amsterdam
1996-1998 Multiple shows within the artscene of Utrecht