Gateway Collage

born 1976. Despite the varied painting and thematic subjects that Jeroen Blok tackles, ranging from abstract material research to series in which figuration and abstraction create an exciting balance, his signature style is very recognisable for those who delve into his oeuvre. A serial approach is typical of his working method as well as his evident pleasure in experimenting with techniques and materials, resulting in an unconventional use of collage technique, intriguing layers and a narrative visual language. The working method and the chosen themes show the need for complete autonomy and a degree of maladjustment, contradiction and obstinacy. And if I were to say that he is enthusiastic or driven, it would be an understatement: possessed comes closer. In other words, an enormous inner drive, or, as can be said so beautifully in German: making art "aus innere Notwendigkeit", because you cannot do anything else. This is reflected in an enormous flow and production. His work is characterised by a critical attitude, a commentary on what is going on in the world and the social cohesion amongst people. This is accompanied by a great desire for freedom, an opposition to any form of patronage or restraintment. In Blok's recent work, for example, people regularly appear as small and insignificant creatures, who seem to surrender or try to break free from the pattern. The results are bold, sometimes subdued or even poetic. He himself says of his work: "My paintings and drawings are best read as work in which perception, free interpretation and image converge with one another.”