Bas Zoontjens

Bas Zoontjens is one such artist who creates spectacular effects on the canvas without using a lot of technology. The simplicity of his techniques is contrasted with the images and ideas that go with his painting. A look at his paintings takes the viewer on a journey through space, time and a dimension that humans still have to learn of. Bas is a Dutch artist who shuttles between The hague and Berlin. After having graduated from the Royal Academy of Art & Design and the Grafic Lyceum Eindhoven, he received several stipends and grants from many Dutch institutions. In a pensive mood, one can see an image of an alien invasion, or an intergalactic war taking place. Most of the paintings seem to be connected with each other, bringing a sort of synthesis in a state of defragmentation. Bas uses bright colours in order to set the differences between time, space and the unknown third. Like in a science fiction movie, the paintings seem to reveal the story of mankind which is caught in an eternal conflict between the destroyer and the destroyed. If one continues to ponder upon the paintings even more deeply, there really isn’t much in the paintings for the human race. Surprisingly many of his paintings hide a malevolence and raw energy in an unreal representation of images. Perhaps this malevolence is something unimaginable to the human mind, and indicates an uncertain future for the human race. The fate of humankind is almost impossible to know, and one of the possibilities is the extinction of species due to an unimaginable catastrophe from the outer space. Jaiyant Cavale