Jan Maarten Voskuil

Based on the premise—formulated by De Stijl cofounder (and fellow Dutchman) Theo van Doesburg—that a work of art refers only to itself, Jan Maarten Voskuil’s paintings-cum-sculptures are full of rigor and humor.

His works are oriented on the circle and the rectangle, whose forms he alters and distorts using mathematical principles. These calculations guide the three-dimensional shapes of his wooden frames, across which he stretches monochromatic canvases. His well-crafted and inventive spatial paintings are presented individually or combined into multipart works and they may be found hanging on or propped against walls, installed in the middle of a room, or even attached to the ceiling.

At once austerely minimal and exuberant, Voskuil’s compositions often appear to be in the process of shapeshifting—peeling off of the wall, stretching, or collapsing in on themselves—as if imbued with minds of their own. Voskuil lives and works in Haarlem and his work is exhibited in museums and art spaces around the world, including the United States, Australia, Japan, Great Britain, France, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands. His work is collected in many public and private collections, such as the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, the Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen and the Wannieck Gallery, Brno.