Robert van de Graaf (b. 1983, the Netherlands) is a visual artist living and working in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Van de Graaf received a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Architecture (Technical University Delft) in 2009. In 2005 and 2006, he worked as an intern in architecture in New York City, while also creating artworks in his West Harlem studio.
Since 2012 he is devoting himself entirely to his career as a visual artist. He has since produced a large body of work, consisting of theme-based series of artworks which are exhibited in numerous online and physical exhibitions, like his solo exhibition at the ‘Salon des Arts’ in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 2023. The exhibition was curated by Ad Himmelreich, curator and former conservator of the Bonnefantenmuseum (NL) and he wrote an essay about the artworks of Robert. His work is represented by contemporary art gallery Al-Tiba9 Contemporary (Barcelona) on Artsy.
The artworks are held in private collections through the Netherlands, the United States and France.
His artworks have been published in several international art magazines and art books as Art Maze Magazine, Aesthetica Magazine, Artsin Square Magazine, art magazine Al-Tiba9 and N/A Magazine.
Robert enjoyed an intense private painting and drawing training at an early age (1996 – 2001) by the Dutch artist Erica Meyster (1949 – 2006). This period remains of great importance to his development as an artist.
Robert van de Graaf is interested in the connections and relations between the mystical in this world, in all its manifestations (the sea, the sky, nature, human built environments, light and darkness), and the sense and the dimension of the spiritual world and our soul.
In his exploration he is seeking the mystical hidden in this world which he translates into metaphorical paintings. The works express a complex interplay of visual impressions combined with emotional and spiritual reflection. Each piece gives substance to his ongoing personal journey to seek meaning in life.
With his work Van de Graaf questions human destiny and how we as human beings can develop ourselves and grow on a spiritual level. He wishes his artworks to stimulate an opening towards personal deepening, both for himself and the viewer. The artworks aim to elicit a gaze back at the viewer, a reflection of feelings, crossing the line from observation to introspection.
Van de Graaf draws his inspiration from spiritual and religious stories, mythology, mystical places and the philosophy of life. He transforms his inspiration into contemporary interpretations while richly referring to artists through all times of art history such as Caspar David Friedrich, Anselm Kiefer, Joan Mitchell and the old masters.
Though primarily working on his oil paintings, he is also using drawings and watercolours during the creation process. The oil paintings are layered, densely merging his diverse range of mark making, the expressive use of colour and studied compositions. His mark making, using brushes and palette knives, is moving from energetic gestural marks to precisely observed very delicate ones throughout the different stages of the work process.
The paintings are often large in scale and balance between the figurative and the abstract, giving a certain freedom to the viewer.
Robert experiences the process of creating as freedom, inner battles and faith.
Essay
Ad Himmelreich, curator and former conservator of the Bonnefantenmuseum (NL) wrote an essay about the work of Robert (March 10, 2023).
Robert van de Graaf *
When I was a child, I was firmly convinced that there were gnomes living in a certain corner of our garden, behind some bushes. How long I stared at them I don’t know. Perhaps it was no more than a single moment. Was this my first mystical experience? I don’t know.
This early memory suddenly resurfaced when encountering Robert van de Graaf’s paintings.
His works refer to specific places, or perhaps better: specific moments. What we see are inner images: visions that he has captured on canvas.
Robert van de Graaf lives on the edge of the North Sea, where the rhythm of ebb and flow and the gently bending horizon make you aware of your own breath and the insignificance of human existence. The landscape character of by far most of the paintings could be explained by this.
A trip to Patmos is equally a source of inspiration. Wikipedia says: According to tradition, the evangelist John was exiled to this island around 95 AD. In the Cave of the Apocalypse, he wrote the Bible book of Revelation or Apocalypse. This makes Patmos a ‘Holy Island’ for many.
More important than the island itself, let alone Christian tradition, is the fact of the vision revealed to one person living in isolation. John’s cave echoes, as it were, in the isolation of the painter’s studio. It is the spiritual state, the moment of complete openness that leads to revelation, that defines the character of the paintings.
Likewise, he feels permanently drawn to the bustling city that, as the song puts it, never sleeps. Certainly a metropolis like New York, where Robert worked for a year as an architect (at Steven Learner Studio) and as an artist, has places of extreme silence and spiritual enlightenment. A series of small paintings in the exhibition are inspired by these specific locations, where the intimate focus on details of the structures suggest the grandeur of the whole. Like an immense neo-Gothic church in Harlem, incidentally still under construction: Cathedral Saint-John the Divine. Coincidentally or not, the same saint turns up here.
His paintings reveal that Robert van de Graaf seeks the divine experience within himself. Without pressure from any religion, which by definition represents a community. Everything in him seems to point to a yearning for inner liberation. In this, I suspect a certain kinship with spiritual movements from the turn of the century, around 1900, which in turn were important for modern art.
Here I am thinking in particular of Theosophy, which seeks a better understanding of reality and truth behind external phenomena. This is based on the assumption that consciousness precedes manifestation. Robert van de Graaf is not an adept of this, but a certain kinship is undeniably present, if only because of the underlying quest for inner freedom.
With him, the aforementioned consciousness translates into a fundamental openness, which makes it possible for yourself to open up new spaces.
The paintings in this exhibition appeal to our capacity for openness. But first of all, look for the child within yourself.
Ad Himmelreich
Maastricht, March 10, 2023
*) Robert van de Graaf (born 1983) lives and works in Scheveningen. He was trained as an architect. Besides being a visual artist, he is above all a poet. At a young age he took private lessons in drawing and painting with Dutch artist Erica Meyster (1949 – 2006).
For further information: www.robertvandegraaf.com
Contact info
Artsy: Artsy – Robert van de Graaf
Website: www.robertvandegraaf.com
Email: info@robertvandegraaf.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/robertvandegraaf/
