Parallel Universes 18 Painting

Ank Draijer was born in Leiden, The Netherlands. She took her first painting classes while growing up in her home country. For the last forty-three years she has been living in Latin America. Her first stop there was Peru, followed by Colombia, where a couple of years were spent living in the Amazon jungle. Now she lives already more than thirty years in Costa Rica. Her work is strongly influenced by the rich colours and overwhelming nature of the tropics, particularly of Costa Rica. The energy and healing power that emanate from nature keep feeding her passion for painting. In her work she expresses her concern for the natural environment. She is conscious that nature actively offers us teachings, sending us signals of climate change, challenging us to be aware of our role and responsibility as humans. She finds it hard to imagine a future without the healing powers of nature’s energy, deeply understanding the interdependence between the forests, the oceans, the wildlife they sustain, and us. Having experimented with many different styles and techniques, and influenced by both the urban and natural environments she has lived in, she now paints more abstract without leaving out figurative elements. Her paintings has been exhibited in group- and solo exhibitions in the United States of America, The Netherlands, France, Colombia, Uruguay and Costa Rica and are in private collections in Costa Rica, Poland, Spain, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic and The United States of America.