Exhibition'Onzijn' - Niek Opstals
| 01 februari t/m 24 maart 2024 | |
| Sterksel Atelier Kempro |
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EXHIBITION AT GALLERY KEMPRO
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1 TO SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 2024
Niek Opstals graduated in June 2023 as an autonomous visual artist from the Sint Joost Academy of Art & Design in Den Bosch. Since the age of fifteen, Niek has had epilepsy, and he incorporates images he sees during and after seizures into his paintings. Especially for his exhibition, Niek created a series of paintings in which his own MRIs served as the starting point. Thus, the collection 'Onzijn' (Non-being) was born.
Becoming aware while being disconnected from everything and everyone. Dissociative experiences with a touch of existentialism, abstract forms, and recognizable figuration question the balance between reality and unknown places. Through his paintings, Niek takes the viewer into his world, into his seizure(s), into unknown, disconnected, and fragile states of mind. And he hopes to visualize this in the hope of gaining a better grip on life.
"In modern society, everything happens simultaneously. Our minds can hardly grasp what is happening around us. This chaos feeds the vague and unstable qualities of humanity. In a state of alienation, he wants to connect with other 'strangers'..."
After graduating, Niek was selected for the Fresh Cacao exhibition for young talents in Helmond, where he exhibited in October 2023. This was followed by an exhibition at Galerie Zelhem, where he received a stipend. Niek has been selected for the Master-Apprentice program at Kunstpodium T in Tilburg, where he will be mentored by a renowned artist for a year. Niek has been nominated for the Sluijters Prize, a biennial award for young talent in painting, for which Dutch art academies have selected 30 recently graduated bachelor's and master's students. As a result, he will exhibit a painting during KunstRAI in Amsterdam from March 27 to April 1, 2024.
Meet Niek Opstals during the official opening on Thursday, February 1, at 3:00 PM. Or visit this exhibition in the following two months from Monday to Friday or on a Sunday. Check kempro.nl/contact for directions and the current opening hours of the gallery.
