1968 born in Amersfoort 1987-1992 Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Utrecht 1994-1995 Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam seit 1995 lives and works in Amsterdam (NL) Awards 2016 Mondriaan Foundation, Workcontribution proven talent/ Arbeitsbeitrag bewährtes Talent 1998 "Wim Izaksprijs 1998", Hermen Molendijk-Foundation, Amersfoort

Solo exhibitions 2022 Resolve, Jan van Hoof galerie, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2021 Het New York State Museum (Albany)schaft ‘One Twin’ aan. Uit<>Zicht, 75 + 1 jaar Vrijheid, Provinciehuis Noord-Holland, Haarlem 4 achtereenvolgende solopresentaties over de gehele voorgevel van Theater City of Wesopa, Amsterdam, december 2020- april 2021 en op 9/11 solopresentatie Herdenking 9/11 2020 Inception, Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam Art Rotterdam, stand BorzoGallery, Rotterdam 2019 Fermate, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf 2018 Périphérique, Lieu d’Art Contemporain Narbonne, Frankreich 2017 Art Cologne (mit Jan Schoonhoven), Galerie Borzo Lieu d’art contemporain (mit Koen Vermeule), Narbonne (F) 2016 Holland Highway, Gasunie, Groningen (NL) 2015 Jan Andriesse & Jurriaan Molenaar, Galerie Borzo, Amsterdam 2014 Edition bei Mo-artgallery, Amsterdam (NL) 2013 Match (duo met Ton Kraayeveld), galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag KunstRAI, stand galerie Jan van Hoof, Amsterdam 2012 Jim Harris & Jurriaan Molenaar, kunstruimte Kuub, Utrecht Jurriaan Molenaar, Jan van Hoof galerie, ’s-Hertogenbosch Deelnemer De nieuwe Rembrandt, Avro, 7 weken op Ned 2 Nieuw werk, Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam 2011 Alumni Rijksakademie (duo met Tim Ayres), Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam 2010 Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf Lessness, Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam Transit, ACB gallery, Boedapest 2009 "Jurriaan Molenaar", KunstRai (stand Tanya Rumpff), Amsterdam 2008 "Precisely that!" (mit Han Schuil), ACB galéria, Budapest 2007 "Nightshift", galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem 2006 "Ablakok", ACB galéria, Budapest 2005 "Unisono in duplo", Stedelijk Museum Schiedam "Logo Building" (mit Tobias Hauser), Galerie Fiebach & Minninger, Keulen 2004 "Passag"e, galerie Fiebach & Minninger, Keulen "Passage", galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem 2003 "Unbuil"t, galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem 2002 "40% Architecture" (mit Oskar de Kiefte), Inmo gallery, Los Angeles 2000 "Holocene", galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem 1999 "Odyssee 2000", Fries Museum, Leeuwarden 1998 "Nomotions", Buro Empty, Amsterdam "Flight 44", galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem 1997 "Jurriaan Molenaar", LAK Galerie, Leiden 1996 "De Tien Gebieden", galerie Art & Project, Slootdorp Group exhibitions 2022 Selection, galerie Voss, Düsseldorf (D) 2021 PAN Amsterdam, Jan van Hoof galerie Memorial Twin Towers, New York State Museum Seminar en tentoonstelling: Storytelling; Gebäudegeschichten erfinden und visualisieren, University of Applied Sciences, Detmold (D) Reality pictured, BorzoGallery, Amsterdam Ode aan het landschap, Zandvoorts Museum (+ catalogus) Art Rotterdam, Marian Cramer Projects Opdracht hoofdkantoor PON, Amsterdam 2020 Koop dit of dit of dit, curator Ellis Kat i.o.v. Mondriaan Fonds, Capital C, Amsterdam 2019 Seminar en tentoonstelling: Ecklösung, University of Applied Sciences, Detmold, (D) Lang niet gezien, nog niet gezien, BorzoGallery, Amsterdam PAN Amsterdam, Jan van Hoof galerie KunstRAI Amsterdam, Jan van Hoof galerie Spring Propositions 2019, SBK Amsterdam 2018 Vice Versa, een cross-over met HOH Architecten, BorzoGallery, Amsterdam POP IN, Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam KunstRAI Amsterdam, Jan van Hoof galerie 25 jaar Jan van Hoof Galerie, Jan van Hoof galerie, ’s-Hertogenbosch 2017 Collectie Wilploo, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede (NL) 2016 Het ABC van de Collectie, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (NL) Van Gogh Mini’s, MOTI, Museum of the Image, Breda (NL) Culture of Colors, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (catalog) (NL) 2015 Art Rotterdam, Galerie Borzo(met Jan Andriesse en Herman de Vries) (NL) 2014 Gedeelde Passie, Aanwinsten 2008-2013, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (NL) We Like Art, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam Art Rotterdam, stand Galerie Reuten (NL) 2013 Binnen ruimtes, galerie Reuten, Amsterdam Art Warehouse, stand Jan van Hoof, Rotterdam 2012 Cool!, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam Art Amsterdam Noord, Amsterdam De finalisten van De Nieuwe Rembrandt, galerie Metis, Amsterdam Summer 2012, galerie Voss, Düsseldorf Re: Rotterdam, Marian Cramer Projects 2011 Artfair Köln, stand galerie Voss Na Nul, galerie Borzo, Amsterdam VoTH, Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch (cat.) Zo zit dat, stoelencollectie stichting Zetel, CBK Emmen Art Amsterdam, stand galerie Voss 2010 Art Rotterdam, stand galerie Tanya Rumpff 25 jaar galerie Tanya Rumpff, laatste groepstentoonstelling Vienna Art Fair, stand ACB gallery Art Amsterdam, stand galerie Voss 2009 "Huis Clos", Galerie Reuten, Amsterdam (NL) "Outlook" (von 2001), Tweede Kamer, Den Haag "Scherp gesneden/raak getypeerd", Tricot Winterswijk "Intern & extern", Kunsthal 52, Den Helder 2008 "Intern & extern", Kunsthal 52, Den Helder "In stock-Uit stock", galerie Tanya Rumpff "Tentoonstelling 1, scherp gesneden/raak getypeerd", Tricot Winterswijk 2007 "On Memory" (curator Johan Deumens), galerie Tanya Rumpff "Muze", film en muziek van Arnoud Noordegraaf/ Luuk Vierhout, Festival a/d Werf 2007, Utrecht en Frascati, Amsterdam "Groei. Aanwinsten 2003-2007", Stedelijk Museum Schiedam 2006 "Vrienden voor het leve"n, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam "Zetel", De Zonnehof, Amersfoort "Zete"l, Glaspaleis, Heerlen 2004 "4 Dutch Artist"s, ACB galéria, Budapest "Tien jaar Wim Izaksprijs", Dordrechts Museum 2003 "Ansichten & Ausblicke", Galerie Fiebach&Minninger, Keulen "The Seven Year Itch", Stedelijk Museum Schiedam 2002 "Iets wat zoveel kost, is alles waard", De Beyerd, Breda 2001 "Schoon", W 139, Amsterdam "De visite is er", Arti et Amitiae, Amsterdam Inmo gallery, Los Angeles, USA 1999 "Wim Izaksprijs 1998", Kunstgenootschap Diepenheim "Collectie Altena-Boswinkel", Stedelijk Museum Schiedam 1998 "De Bermuda Driehoek", W 139, Amsterdam "Koninklijke Subsidie", Paleis op de Dam, Amsterdam 1997 "Password: Worden", W 139, Amsterdam 1996 "Emo Verkerk, Daan van Golden, Rob van Koningsbruggen, Jurriaan Molenaar" , galerie Tanya Rumpff, Haarlem "Collectie OCÉ", Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht 1995 "6 Kunstenaars, Prix NI", galerie Nouvelles Images, Den Haag "Koninklijke Subsidie", Paleis op de Dam, Amsterdam

When the eye explores the paint Bare are the spaces Jurriaan Molenaar (1968) presents us with. Void of human presence. Even though the buildings, windows and doors are recognizable by everyone in the world, they never represent actual places. Molenaar tries to depict his subject as anonymously as possible. Hence the barely visible brushstrokes. His restrained use of color reinforces this as well. Only the concentration used to paint and the extreme precise construction of the space betray that more is hidden behind these neat empty spaces. Since the nineties Molenaar has been painting architecture and spaces. As a child he believed one could think oneself right through spaces. It offered a sense of freedom. To make space visible you need walls, windows and doors. In other words, architecture. Raised in the city this has always held a fascination for him. In his early years he ventured out into the world to discover new places (Russia, Indonesia, Israel, New York). Whilst being in big cities he invariably took the bus to distant suburbs. In these outskirts he endlessly photographed walls, windows and doors. Nowadays he mostly finds his spaces in the digital realm. A real impetus for a new painting can be a photograph of window, a small area in a painting by Edward Hopper or an undefined interior shot on a real estate site. As long as that space just about reveals itself without providing too many specifics. According to Molenaar each viewer should be able to make his or her own projections. Even though the images are bare and void, in the end Molenaar is mostly concerned with the complexity of that space. Both physically on the canvas as well as mentally inside the viewer's head. This complexity is accomplished by uniting the opposites: outside and inside, privacy and view, protection and constriction, emptiness and wealth, abstraction and figuration. Wandering Colleague-painter Hans Broek presented in the mid-nineties vast landscapes around Los Angeles, while Carla Klein showed desolate waiting areas at airports and unending deserted highways. Ulf Puder, member of the Neue Leipziger Schule, started painting alienating architectural spaces. At this time Molenaar got recognition with rather abstract shapes, remotely resembling architecture or cityscapes. He applied them on canvas in thick pasty layers. In the course of the years his use of paint became more subtle and the representations gradually moved closer to reality, without turning into photorealism. The search for the right balance between abstraction and figurativeness, calls to mind art historical images almost automatically. Vistas of Vermeer loom up in one's memory, much like the buildings of Giotto which seem oddly flat, because of the early use of perspective. Molenaar's painting of a small grey window (Absent, 2014) echos forms by Mondriaan and Malevich. With their personalized brushstrokes they broke through the perfection of their new and completely abstract imagery. Equally in this small painting, traits of minimalists like Donald Judd are recognized. In their time it was a taboo to have a personal signature. They were indeed more concerned with the concept, less so with the execution. Molenaar draws elements from both these traditions. He constructs a representation with minimal visual information and yet everything is discernible and credible. At the same time his signature seems absent, but is in fact not. By applying each layer of paint in a slightly different direction on the canvas, Molenaar creates a paint skin so smooth your eyes cannot focus on anything. They keep wandering. This lack of a handhold is intensified by the presence of more than one vanishing point in the image. The moment your intuition tells you something is amiss with the perspective, you automatically start searching for where it's off and what it could mean. Wealth Crucial for Molenaar's paintings is their perfection. Both the perfection of the assembled space as well as the perfection of their execution. With mathematical precision he translates the space of the original photograph into a drawing to which the laws of perspective and mathematical formulas lay the groundwork. Layer upon layer he paints that constructed space in thin matt acrylic. Each area he tapes off carefully with extra thick tape made especially for him. The pace is one section per canvas per day. He works with very subtle chrominance and some parts even have a raised border due to the many layers. Molenaar's perfection is subject to the anonymity of the image and the wealth of associations one can project onto his work. The longlasting concentration it takes for this signature-free signature, he acquired from Russian monks who, in a remote monastery, taught him how to paint icons. Analogue to icons, Molenaar reduced his imagery to the essence. On top of this he carefully observed their different use of perspective and the absence of shadows. Molenaar shows us actual and simultaneously mysterious places with enigmatic light. Due to the absence of an unambiguous meaning and the lack of a handhold, essential life questions such as: 'Where am I' and 'What am I doing here?' arise. The sense of a lurking loneliness in these paintings is made bearable by the loving devotion encapsulated in the perfection. Molenaar's search for a handhold seems to implicate something about the last decades. The compartmentalized society already disintegrated some decennia ago and the period of ideological epic stories has elapsed. In the current ego-era we derive purpose and security from hard numbers and economic laws. A pseudo grip apparently, demonstrated by Molenaar's askew and twisted perspective. A condition however to actually perceive these layers of meaning is to see Molenaar's works in real life. Reproductions on paper or monitor reduce his images to clean-cut-ruler-painted spaces. Only when one’s eye can explore the paint itself, one can detect the space behind it. Text: Sandra Spijkerman