The external exhibition ‘Het Landschap’ by artist Niels Schouten (1959) from 02-04 to 02-06 2018 at KunstHaar galerie-kappers.
KunstHaar galerie-kapper
Berenstraat 21, Amsterdam
Opening times: Tuesday till Saturday 10:00 – 17.30
Open day: 02-04-2018 (2e Easterday) from 13:00 till 16:00. The artist Niels Schouten will be present at this event. See here the Facebook event: Open dag expositie ‘Het Landschap’ van Niels Schouten
Organized by and in collaboration with:
Dutch Accent Gallery
Berenstraat 41, Amsterdam
Dutch

De allereerste handeling voordat er geschilderd wordt is een opzet in houtskool, soms is dit alleen een horizonlijn. De plaats op het doek waar de horizon wordt neergezet is belangrijk voor de verdere opbouw van het schilderij. Het schilderen geeft hem een gevoel van vrijheid en is uiteindelijk een vorm van magie.
In English:
About the artist Niels Schouten:
Niels Schouten started painting in the mid-80’s. Inspired by old fort walls various materials (such as sand, lime, cement and different soil types ) were used in his paintings. When he first saw the work of Nicolas de Stael, he started using more colours in his work. Gradually he stopped using the various materials and nowadays he mainly uses acrylic paint. He finds his inspiration in landscapes, especially the Dutch landscape. Also, old fort walls are interesting, they are actually landscapes in itself.
Before he starts painting Niels takes a lot of pictures. For him, it works as a sketchbook. The pictures are giving him ideas about the composition. The first act on the canvas is a sketch with charcoal. Sometimes this can only be a horizon. “It is very important where the horizon is located on the canvas. I like widespread lines and I’m looking for the tension on the horizon.
A wide landscape with a lot of space evokes a strong desire for freedom”. To paint Niels mostly uses a putty knife and a palette knife. Sometimes he adds a few transparent layers of paint, to make the colours deeper.
My paintings can be described as abstract landscapes. I always start with a preconceived plan but go to work intuitively. Action and reaction. There always coincidences happening while you work and it influences the painting.