Profile

Artist Details

Hans Meertens
Hans Meertens
The Netherlands
After attending the Faculty of Art at the York St John University (UK), the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven (NL) and the Faculty of Art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (BE), Hans Meertens graduated from the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2000. In that same year he was nominated for the Piet Bakker Prize; an incentive prize for young Utrecht School of the Arts graduates with outstanding talent. Since then, he has gained international recognition as an artist. Over the last decade he has won a number of awards, and has been in receipt of a number of grants and residencies, such as the Mondriaan Foundation Grant and residency in New York for three consecutive years, and a sponsorship from The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Copenhagen. His work is frequently on exhibition in in a variety of museums, artist-run spaces and galleries such as the Museum of Gorcum (NL), Gallery Clifford (DK) and Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery in New York, as well as at international art-fairs in New York, Chicago, Manchester, Newcastle and Copenhagen. An important part of his work is included in the collections of enthusiastic collectors around the world and Meertens has been commissioned by major companies such as Porsche, Nedap, Studio Kluif, University of Groningen, Metro and Ajax Amsterdam/theJohan Cruyff Foundation. The first comprehensive catalogue of Meertens' art was presented in Gallery Clifford in 2009. The book "Sweet Fever – The Art of Hans Meertens" contains over 150 images and nine reflections on Meertens’ art by several authors from different countries.

Latest Artworks

Haunted by your Memories - on Mixed media on Card board By Hans Meertens
Here’s the Little Ghost Again - on Mixed media on Card board By Hans Meertens
Hide and Seek - on Mixed media on Card board By Hans Meertens
Voodoo Delux - on Mixed media on Card board By Hans Meertens

Exhibitions

  • 2012 Gallery Molenaars/S*T*A*R*D*U*S*T/Breda/NL
  • 2011 Nick Clifford Contemporary/Inspired by True Events/Daugård/DK
  • 2010 Gallery Molenaars/Hans Meertens/Breda/NL
  • 2009 Gallery Clifford/Book Launch & Exhibition/Daugård/DK
  • 2008 Gallery Clifford/Sweet Fever/Daugård/DK
  • 2008 Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery/Remote Control/New York/USA
  • See more

    Commentary

  • The human tendency to arrange elements in a framework fulfils the need for clear boundaries to determine the way one thinks and behaves. With the use of internal measuring rods we categorise everyday intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli by interpreting and evaluating them according to a system of exclusion. For the last 15 years I have been captivated by the potential of art to break through this maintained and self-regulating pattern. A revitalised way at looking at one’s internal or external environment may result in a renewed awareness, insight and re-evaluation of previously encapsulated experiences and points of view. Art’s direction, evolvement and flexibility is highly influenced by our universal inclination to classify and categorise what we see and experience. Contemporary art that is experimental or innovative often summons disapproving comments. Confronted with contemporary art, people throughout history have haughtily asked the same question: “is this supposed to be art?” Raised eyebrows and coughs of disapproval conferred upon artworks we now use for measurement to judge artworks of our own time. It is fascinating to observe art critics, the art world and the ‘cultural elite’ in constant pursuit and effort to locate and encapsulate the latest Wild Beast to paint a label of ‘ART’ on its back. Driven by the ambition to be labelled as innovative and groundbreaking, some artists seem to continuously put all their effort into creating monstrous, complicated and inaccessible beasts. The majority of this output is, of course, unlikely to gain a position in the canon of art history. In the end only a hand full of artworks will stand the test of time and be established as counterpoints; becoming icons of artistic achievement reflecting a certain age and generation. Since there seem to be no universally considered criteria anymore, it is hard to say whether this will be based on inherent physical or perceptible qualities and aesthetics of the work (if any), the skill, mastery or intention of the artist, or the ideas (or value) a cultural elite applies to it. As an art student I had an over ambitious drive to playfully explore the boundaries of art and to provoke people to re-evaluate their assumptions and definition by alluring them into unknown territory. As my development as an autonomous artist progressed outside the walls of the art academy, I discovered that this ambition was narrowing down rather than expanding my artistic journey. As an artist today, I want to distinguish myself from the prestigious frontiers of the avant garde by avoiding being hemmed-in by contemporary hype and current crazes by drawing upon earlier, ‘old-fashioned’ traditions. Many of my works have benefited from previous encapsulations and definitions of art, synthesising different influences that have been of personal importance in my life: art, movies, music, comics, mythology, poems, stories, a woman with a thousand faces. Reflecting on the world around me through art feels most natural and sincere when I allow myself total freedom to jumble with characteristics of the species that have already been branded. I have learned that it is much more challenging, worthwhile and intensifying to deepen any of my involvements and commitments by finding new life and new meaning in what has apparently already been established. If this goes for love, it must go for art as well.
  • Hans Meertens

    Artists List

    Recent Updates

    Post Comments

    About The Artist

    Exhibition Details
    Artist's Statement / Critic Comments

    Size: 

    Medium: 

    Style: