Wouter Nijland

54.2
2015
oil on canvas
200 x 150 cm
49.1
2015
oil on canvas
50 x 50 cm
39.8
2015
oil on canvas
150 x 150 cm

At first glance you would not say it, but the work of Wouter Nijland (b. 1980) depends on chance. Literally. Just like everyday life, which is his main inspiration. The artist determines only the conditions of his paintings, such as size and grid. After that he leaves it all to chance.

The slope of a line? A bucket full of marbles numbered by 1 to 360 decides. Will a patch be coloured? A coin toss will answer the question with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. And if the verdict is ‘yes’, it then has to be decided whether to fill it with horizontal or vertical brush strokes. Again the coin decides.

In his use of colour, chance plays a decisive role as well. The artist uses ten different colours of oil paint, all of which he mixes to black. The colour black also ensures that the beholder is not distracted by emotions and associations evoked by any pronounced use of colour.

Ever since 2006 Nijland has been working with this system, starting from the time he was finishing his last year at the Minerva Academy of Arts in Groningen (NL). The autonomous artist presented his work at numerous (group) exhibitions and art fairs. His large solo exhibition ‘ROETWU NNLYDA’ was held in Walls in September 2015.

www.walls.nl
54.2
2015
oil on canvas
200 x 150 cm
49.1
2015
oil on canvas
50 x 50 cm
39.8
2015
oil on canvas
150 x 150 cm