FAVELA COLOR STUDY 06 Painting

Consciously giving your work as a visual artist place and meaning in society: for Jeroen Koolhaas this is almost self-evident. Perhaps also as a logical continuation of his training in the art of applied design. Whether he is active as an illustrator or when designing for a fashion presentation. For years he has been wholeheartedly working at large projects of town painting. In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, but also in Haiti, Curaçao, Miami, Amsterdam and Philadelphia. Teamwork on the spot. Where local support is essential. And with ambition and unbridled commitment. Also, Jeroen Koolhaas is that modest solitary worker who stimulates others through his dedication and inspiration. Who knows how to connect the individual to the collective. Nowadays the privacy of his studio has become more important. His works at major projects continues to be a reference and we see Jeroen Koolhaas use these in his more personal creations. A similar field of tension in both the large projects and the studio created artworks can be observed, either when figurative or non-figurative. Favela Painting started with large figurative paintings in which the buildings were the bearer of an image. For example the kite flying boy with the favela buildings in the background. In itself a captivating image for which facades of the back sides of three buildings along a sports field serve as a canvas. It is significant that those rear facades are part of a larger whole depicted in the background of the painting. In later town painting projects the city and its buildings again are both subjects and canvases for the painting. Colorful compositions supply buildings with a new look with a strong emphasis on the identity that was present already. Harmonious new accents on the weathered backgrounds of a past that links to a new future. In his painted wood mosaics Jeroen Koolhaas has in his studio found a follow-up to his town paintings. More so than his figurative paintings these mosaics give a direct expression to the dream that previously was worked out at large. Here he finds a framework of form which allows for more variety and coincidence. We see the return of weathering and aging. Of color in a variety of shades, determined partly by background or light, sometimes suddenly opaque and bright. Of what can be, and simply also is, magnificent. Unified variety. Mosaic paintings, as objects, but also as the result of the optimism of a young person who once wanted to attack the whole world.