Episode 072: Pim Blokker

Kevin Kirkwood visited the studio of Dutch painter, Pim Blokker. In this conversation, they talk about what he enjoys about being a painter and why humor is important to his craft. This recording was made in late February, prior to our knowledge that he would be invited to show his work at the Stigter Vandoesburg gallery in Amsterdam. Since this recording, his solo exhibition was titled “no Worries”. To learn more about this body of work, visit StigterVan Douesburg.com or PimBlokker.com.

Pim Blokker approaches the canvas as a game board. In his work the perspective continuously shifts or stretches out, and formal qualities and the physical act of painting both collide and merge. Blokker is not interested in illusion making but in linking personal associations to new depictions of reality. He sees the collective consciousness as something without a structure, end, or beginning, and plays with our fixed connotations and expectations of reality. This he does through juxtaposition, a confrontational use of logic and a slapstick kind of humor. The lightness of a joke sets off the gravity of tragedy and visa versa. Juxtaposing hilarity and horror, two emotional extremes, allows him to examine somber issues in a playful way, to pass off absurdities as logical and to undermine seemingly established facts. His work shows a certain lightness and openness what is particularly evident in the wall paintings he created especially for the gallery. The brushstrokes have a leisure like quality and remind of the optimism of some 1950’s paintings. Blokker knows his classics and can borrow iconography from the 80’s to give his own interpretation of all he likes to use.

Instagram @pimblok_ker

The Strand is produced by Kevin Kirkwood @kevinwillpaint @strandpodcast

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