description

Rob Johannesma

Rob Johannesma
Untitled / Zonder titel
2022
eggtempera op doek / eggtempera on canvas
165 x 135 cm

Detail Description

All senses are addressed in the paintings of Rob Johannesma; his multi-layered brush strokes invite the viewer to literally listen and stroll across the surface with their eyes. Only while pondering over minute holes in the canvas, or crevices through which deeper and lighter layers appear, can one sense the overwhelming sensation of all the elements working in unison to pry open the space within a canvas. Johannesma's paintings represent a hidden world behind the image itself.

The fascination with depth and layers occurred in Johannesma's work when he suddenly became blind in one eye, causing him to no longer perceive depth. For an artist who, up to that moment, mainly worked in photography, his working method fell apart. Yet, colour soon became his means of expression, and his paintings soon took on a life of their own. In trying to avoid the idea of composition, he lets the brush strokes explore the size of the canvas and create overlapping patches of colour. Johannesma’s paintings shed new light on his fascination with perception and image in the context of art history.



Rob Johannesma (Geleen, NL, 1970) studied at the de Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (1993-1997), the Cooper Union, New York (1996-1997) and De Ateliers, Amsterdam (1997-1999). He exhibited among others at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (2000), Venice Biennial (2001), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2001), De Hallen, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem (2002, 2006), Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Germany (2005), de Busan Biënnale, Korea (2008), ar/ge kunst Galerie Museum, Bolzano (2012), Galleria Lia Rumma (2012), 13de Istanbul Biennale (2013), Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (2014), and Albada Jelgersma Gallery, Amsterdam (2020).