Plastic buckets, dolls, tin cans and furniture. They populate the scenes that artist Erik Mattijssen (Veenendaal, NL, 1957) builds in his drawings of pencil, gouache and pastel crayon. Like in a theatre, he tells stories, often set in interiors in which things take the leading role. People are absent. What happened there, the solidified life stories, thoughts and memories, are told in these tableaux vivants with props.
The artist fills his scenes - with great attention to detail - with objects, in an intuitive, collage-like manner. He works from an image archive he collected over the years. He owns folders full of images of flowers, toys, patterns and the canned goods his father sold as a salesman. Experiences from the many foreign residences where he stays also end up in his work. The colours of Kolkata, façade advertisements, tin cans with plants in Suriname and a grocery shop in Paris enrich his subjects and style.
The work conveys layered, sometimes contradictory feelings to the viewer, supported by his striking use of colour. Sometimes cheerful, sometimes melancholic; for a wooden stool or suitcase can conceal a faltering ambition. Loneliness is also an important theme, reflected in abandoned beds, cuddly toys and dolls that don't get love (anymore). Mattijssen keeps memories alive and taps into layers of our subconscious. Like the smell of madeleines Marcel Proust wrote about, that triggered a flow of memories. Painted and drawn on paper, his objects take you back to a lost time.
Mattijssen cradles us back and forth between recognition and alienation. Through abrupt cuts and playful perspective, bold colour combinations and through what we see. For why is that hippo hanging on a string above the mantelpiece? While looking at his work, you are left wondering. According to him, the highest achievement.
Erik Mattijssen has had solo exhibitions at museums such as Kunsthal Rotterdam, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Jan Cunen Oss and in 2025 at Museum More. His work is included in prestigious international museum, corporate and private collections, including those of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, AkzoNobel, the DELA, the UMC-Utrecht and the VandenBroek Foundation. He made in situ work for public places such as the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Amsterdam and won the NN Art Award. A committed and passionate teacher at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Mattijssen trained a generation of young artists.
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Photography by Henni van Beek
CV Erik Mattijssen
1957, Veenendaal, NL
Education
1979-1984 Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
Solo exhibitions (2011 - 2025)
2025 Museum More, Gorssel
2024 Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen
2024 Galerie Fleur en Wouter, Paper Moon
2023 Galerie Raf van Severen, Antwerpen, Belgium
2023 Maksla XO gallery, Riga, Latvia, 'Puppets on a string'
2022 Verwey Museum Haarlem, 'De stille liefdes van Erik Mattijssen'
2022 Paper Positions, Berlin, galerie with tsjalling
2021 Galeria Casa Colon, Merida, Mexico
2020 Art Rotterdam, Cokkie Snoei, with Koos Buster
2020 De Kunsthal, Rotterdam, with Ineke Hans
2020 Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen, 'Geel als citroen, rood als tomaat' with Ineke Hans
2019 Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, 'Kermisvrijer, de ezel en andere zaken'
2018 Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris, France 'L'épicerie du monde'
2016 Galerie with tsjalling, Groningen 'Conserveermiddelen'
2015 LUMC gallery, Leiden 'Van binnen en van buiten' with Jacobien de Rooij
2014 Ron Lang Art, Amsterdam 'In toenemende mate'
2012 Museum Jan Cunen, Oss, 'As large as life and twice as natural'
2011 Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn (Estonia) 'Sleeping Beauty'
2011 Foundation Obras, Evora, Portugal 'Estou so a ver'
Group exhibitions (2011 - 2023)
2023 'Earth', AKZO Nobel Art space, Amsterdam
2023 Een lekkere dood, Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam
2023 Als de dood, Museum Belvedere, Heerenveen
2023 Klokkenspel, We Like Art, Amsterdam
2022 Copy Paste, with tsjalling, Groningen
2022 Paper Positions Berlin - gallery with tsjallling
2022 KunstKamer Delft
2021 Tiergarten, Alkmaar
2021 30 jaar Galerie Livingstone, The Hague
2021 'Uitverkoren', favorieten uit openbare kunstcollecties, LUMC galerie, Leiden
2021 ZIN, Vught
2020 Openingshow Galeria Casa Colon, Merida, Mexico
2019 Pick Me, Collectie de Groen, Arnhem with Welikeart.
2019 Biënnale Gelderland in Arnhem and Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen
2019 Arti, Amsterdam, 'We wonder where the white went'
2019 Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, 'In de Hoogstraat'
2018 galerie with tsjalling, Groningen 'Cherry picking',
2018 Witteveen Visual Arts, Amsterdam 'Art on Paper'
2017 Ballina Arts Centre (Ireland) 'Human Chain'
2017 Praetoria Antwerp (Belgium) ' Life will be great soon'
2016 Witteveen Visual Arts Centre, 'Amsterdam Drawing'
2016 Cityscapes, Amsterdam 'Inner City'
2015 Museum Jan Cunen, Oss 'Henk van Os komt thuis'
2014 Museum Coda, Apeldoorn 'Natuurkracht'
2014 Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 'Kunst4kids'
2013 Ron Lang Art, 'Amsterdam Drawing'
2011 Stedelijk Museum Schiedam 'All about Drawing'
Collections
Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
Gemeente Amsterdam
Teylers Museum, Haarlem
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, The Hague
Kennedy Van der Laan, advocaten, Amsterdam
KPMG, Amsterdam
Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum, Leiden
Utrechts Medisch Centrum. Utrecht
AMC Amsterdam
Intomart GFK, Hilversum
ABN AMRO, Amsterdam
NOG collectie van het SNS Reaal Fonds, Amsterdam
Nederlandsche Credietverzekerings Maatschappij, Amsterdam
AKZO Nobel, Amsterdam
Van Lanschot Bankiers, 's Hertogenbosch
Eneco, Rotterdam
CVZ, Zorgverzekeringen, Amstelveen
CBK Rotterdam
CBK Amsterdam
CBK Groningen
CBK Dordrecht
HEDEN, the Hague
Kemakeur, Arnhem
Bouwfonds Nederlandse Gemeenten, Hoevelaken
Willem Arntz Stichting, Utrecht
Ballinglen Museum of Contemporary Art, Ireland
Rechtbank Amsterdam
Museum Jan Cunen, Oss
Dela kunstcollectie
Montessorischool Waalsdorp, the Hague
Collectie Becht, Naarden
VandenBroek Foundation
Nederlands Kanker Instituut, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Amsterdam
Collectie Albert Heijn Kunststichting
NN Group Art Collection
Awards
2006 Ballinglen Art Foundation, Ireland, fellowship for life
2011 Publicatie subsidie, Mondriaan Fonds
2018 Cité Internationale des Arts, Mondriaan Fonds - Atelier Holsboer, Paris, France
2021 Winner of the NN Art Award 2021, both the professional jury and the publics choice
Commissions
2014 Mural private owner, Toscane, Italië
2014 Kunsttoepassing Waalsdorp Montessori School den Haag, begeleid door Stroom
2015 Kunst op je kamer, Plaatsmaken, Arnhem
2017 Kunsttoepassing, nieuwe vleugel van het Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenuis, Amsterdam
2019 Een drieluik 'De Hoogstraat', in opdracht van het Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
2022 Four art works commissioned by the Isala Art Committee, for the new hospital in Meppel
2022 A permanent work for Verwey Museum Haarlem, commissioned by the Verwey Foundation
2023 A commissioned work for the Children's Hospital Wilhelmina, Utrecht
Residencies
1987 Residency in Ballyconneelly (Ireland, Co.Galway)
1995 Residency in Extremadura (Spain)
2005 Artist in residence Printmakers Cork (Ireland)
2006 Fellowship The Ballinglen Arts Foundation (Ireland, Co. Mayo)
2008 Residency The Ballinglen Arts Foundation (Ireland, Co. Mayo)
2014 Residency The Ballinglen Arts Foundation (Ireland, Co. Mayo)
2018 Residency Cité internationale des Arts - Paris - atelier Holsboer
2021 Residency in Berlin - Livingstone Gallery Projects
2023 Tyrone Guthrie Foundation, Ireland
Portrait of Erik Mattijssen: Roger Cremers
Galerie Fleur & Wouter
The aim of Galerie Fleur & Wouter is to bring young people into contact with art, to make them feel at home in the gallery and to motivate them to start collecting. This philosophy of an accessible and inclusive gallery is reflected in all our activities. We try to communicate in an accessible way and tell clear stories.
We present artists with a strong story, who create works of art that have an immediate appeal, but then turn out to have many other layers as well. Our artists work in different art forms and we are always looking for cross-links outside of the visual arts. Artists who have been ignored by general art history, such as Outsider artists, are also given a platform in the gallery.
The majority of our artists are young and they will grow with the gallery in the coming years. But we also work together with mid-career artists like Jan Hoek and Mai van Oers. We see the gallery, its artists and supporters as a family that, in addition to making a profit, aims to help grow the artists' careers, and increase the appreciation of art in general.
Gallery owners: Fleur Feringa & Wouter van Herwaarden
Feel free to contact us for any questions.
e-mail: info@galeriefleurenwouter.com telephone: +31 6 57748299
Van Ostadestraat 43A, Amsterdam
Thursday - Sunday | 12.00 - 18.00 hrs & by appointment