I like to be surrounded by beauty and love to work with artists who share my vision. The idea for the CITY 2 exhibition originated in my love of the art of painting, which often moves me and makes me contemplative. When I saw Peter Quirijnen’s oeuvre for the first time it immediately touched something in me. You can keep on looking at his work as it sends you in a daydream. Subconsciously you interpret and add things yourself. His work has a layered effect, a kind of stillness and beauty combined with a sense of coldness and possibly even a not immediately explicable tension, a thrill. The thrill of a city on the move, a movement that is not visible but still perceptible.
The City 2 series, which was painted in the summer of 2014, is a sequel to the winter images of City 1. Both series are inspired by the urban contours of the artist’s home city of Antwerp. He lives on the outskirts of the city and approaches its changing skyline with a healthy dose of wonder. The new buildings going up at the northern edge of the city are fascinating, timeless and beautiful in the eye of the artist. These blocks, which rise narrowly and rigidly into the sky, inspire the artist when driving into the city when the subtle morning light plays through the buildings.
Peter Quirijnen worked as a freelance illustrator for various clients for almost 20 years. Practising applied art, Quirijnen always drew realistic images with lots of detail. But the time had come to move on and find his way as a free artist. Totally contrary to his applied artwork, he leaves out any detail from his paintings.
The atmosphere and vibration of the light are captured effortlessly in his colours. His striking and sensitive impressions invite the viewer to imagine and add their own personal details. It is not dissimilar to the relationship between ‘a book’ and ‘a film’. A book leaves more scope for the reader’s imagination.
