Rob De Graaf

Rob de Graaf (The Hague, 1960) considers his work primarily as a research. Methods, mains and (especially) the process of painting are important. His abstract paintings and drawings form the imagination of this process.

Inspiration

As regards content my ‘search’ is driven by my fascination for opposites. And more important; how do these opposites interact? In the previous years, while maintaining the opposites in my paintings, I was looking for synthesis, unity and balance in one image. A recurring theme was ‘chaos & order’. At a given moment for me ‘chaos & order’ were no longer incompatible. I looked at them as two forces, which cannot exist without each other. Chaos appeared to me not as a lack of order, but as simplicity hidden behind complexity. A dynamic process that powered by awareness leads to order. For me, chaos is rhythm.
Since a few years I have the idea that antagonisms in fact not at all or hardly exist. In other words, the constant attention to opposites is just keeping me off from the experience of unity. Everything in our lives can be experienced as one (not two or non-dual). Now I consider opposites as a matter of perception. It is eventually my frame of reference that stipulates reality. My paintings are ...

Education Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague, The Netherlandspainting, drawing, spatial design (1995-2000) Free Academy, workplace for visual arts, The Hague, The Netherlandspainting (1993-1995) University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlandscivil law (1978-1984)

Irma Gublia Galerie, Essen, Germany, 2017
Terratorium (Terra Art Projects), Zoetermeer, 2016
Terratorium (Terra Art Projects), Zoetermeer, 2014
Galerie Albus Lux, Roosendaal, 2013
Seasons Galleries, Den Haag, 2013
Galerie Albus Lux, Roosendaal, 2012
Het Pakhuys van Heusden, Heusden, 2011
Galerie De Hollandsche Maagd, Gouda, 2011
China-Holland Contemporary Art Exhibition, Xiamen, China, 2010
Galerie Albus Lux, Roosendaal, 2010
Xiamen Municipal Library, Holland Art Week, Xiamen, China, 2009
Galerie Albus Lux, Roosendaal, 2009
Seasons Galleries, Den Haag, 2008
Jan van Hoof Galerie, de Annex, Roosendaal, 2007
Staatgalerie Nitra, Dialoog, Nitra, Slowakije 2007
Marziart Internationale Galerie, Hamburg, Duitsland, 2006
Seasons Galleries, Intervisie IV, Den Haag, 2006
Seasons Galleries, Den Haag, 2006
Jan van Hoof Galerie, Ritme & Structuur,´s Hertogenbosch, 2005
Seasons Galleries, Intervisie III, Den Haag, 2004
De Greef en de Greef, Wassenaar, 2004
Seasons Galleries, Den Haag, 2002
Art Twente 2002 (Jan van Hoof Galerie)
Jan van Hoof Galerie, ’s-Hertogenbosch, 2002
Galerie De Compagnie, Dordrecht, 2002
Seasons Galleries, Den Haag, 2001
Nepal Art Council, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2001
Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, ...