Albert Zwaan

painter

Albert Zwaan paints urban landscapes. Desolate-looking buildings, surrounded by a lush landscape or abstract, decorative patterns.
For Zwaan, painting is all about the proper proportions: the contrasts and harmonies between the various colours, the forms and use of paint are all reconsidered with every new canvas.
Zwaan has a striking palette in which soft, pastel shades are dominant. Colours reminiscent of cartoons, graffiti, and weathered paint in old shipyards. In Berlin he saw gray East German GDR flats that were painted over in pastel shades in an attempt to give them a softer look. Or maybe he simply uses these colours because he likes them.
While painting, Zwaan listens to electronic music: ambient, minimal, German avant-garde. Its energy perfectly matches his painting; he combines images the way a DJ samples sound fragments. He also draws from art history: the expressionist touch of Francesco Goya and El Greco, the resplendent clouds of Philip Koninck; they are mixed with stills from commercials, images from shop windows and logos.
In his teenage years, Zwaan used to be a graffiti artist. He felt at home at the abandoned marshalling yards with concrete sound walls, where he walked around at night with his bag of spray cans. Even now, as a painter, he has a sharp eye for the beauty of the city fringes. Albert Zwaan transforms the gritty post-industrial urban environment into a friendly coloured dream world.

What is it about your studio space that inspires you?

It's located in a rural scenic environment but in the vicinity of Randstad cosmopolitan life.

What sounds, scents and sights do you encounter while in your studio?

The sound of ambient and electro, which I alternate with dub and dancehall, but with dub you have take some errors in account. It is quite distracting sometimes. A collection of old etchings hangs on the wall in the side room. When I look outside, I see the old harbor surrounded by Dutch 17th century houses.

What is your favourite material to work with? How has your use of it evolved throughout your practice?

Oil, I like the slowness of it, the slowness and matter which determines her own zeitgeist. Butt I also use, acrylics, vinyl paint, gouache, aquarel and ink

What themes do you pursue?

Architectural subjects in a natural setting, mixed with pop culture and graffiti. Or I make a reference to a geometric abstraction from art history whatsoever, and mixed that with traditional scenic compositions.

What advice has had the biggest impact on your career?

Paint for yourself at your own pace. Be happy with it.

If you could install your art absolutely anywhere, where would that be?

Wherever contemporary painting is appreciated and receives a warm welcome.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

A landscape with a house by Vinny ! Dutch King Vincent van Gogh but a thick, oil matter, "Matthias Weischer" will also gets a warm welcome in my life !

If you weren´t an artist, what would you be doing?

Probably an art dealer, an antique dealer, dealer in classical (old modern) painting, prints and ceramics. I love auction houses and old stuff.

What are your favourite places besides your studio?

Terraces, drinking a couple of Belgian beers , and cycling through the countryside, visit museums and big European cities.

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