Goudzwaard approaches each work as a space in which a collection of loose elementsare brought together. These building blocks are essentially of little significance, but bybringing them together in a composition, the whole becomes precious. A visual gameemerges in which colour, image structure and surface are weighed against each other. Itis this ‘weighing’ that adds value to the image.

Goudzwaard’s creative process remains unchanged. A number of laws underpin hispractice and form a necessary demarcation within which he can experiment. Eachwork starts with a preliminary study, which he carefully builds up with coloured paper,transparencies and tape. He sets to work intuitively: he selects, positions and rearrangesthe individual fragments, again and again, until the composition achieves the rightbalance. He then converts this model to another material on exactly the same scale: oilon canvas or acrylic on cardboard.

The model and the painting are inextricably connected. The temporary model is capturedin a permanent image; the copy becomes the original when, over time, the model isdestroyed or falls apart. This duality is characteristic of Goudzwaard’s work. His paintingsare both abstract, two-dimensional colour planes and hyper-realistic representations of athree-dimensional reality.

The artist wants to give shape to space and the possibilities of association as clearly aspossible, so that they find their way naturally to the viewer. Anecdotalism plays no role;perception and the act of looking in itself grant access to each work. The title can helpin this regard and often refers to an aspect of looking or to the composition of the work.Ultimately, however, it is up to the viewer, who is invited to observe carefully, to absorbthe image and create his or her own visual game.

Kees Goudzwaard lives and works in Antwerp and Reusel. He had a solo exhibitionat Collectie de Groen in Arnhem earlier this year and is currently working on two soloexhibitions to be held in 2024 at Nunu Fine Art in New York and Taipei. Previously,Goudzwaard had solo exhibitions at venues such as Club Solo in Breda, Villa Croce,Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Genoa, De Kabinetten van De Vleeshal in Middelburg,Stedelijk Museum in Schiedam, MMK Arnhem, Culturgest in Lisbon and S.M.A.K. inGhent. His work is part of the permanent collections of S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Santa BarbaraMuseum of Art, Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Mu.ZEE in Ostend and the RubellFamily Collection in Miami, among others.