Artist:		Onno Boerwinkel
Technique:		pastel, chalk
Date of exhibition:		October 5 - November 4, 2001

Formidable solo-exhibition of Onno Boerwinkel
(also a group exhibition of 33 realists)

As the son of a physician Onno Boerwinkel must have inherited his fathers interest in the human being. But instead of concentrating on the inside, Boerwinkel focused on the outside, on man's appearance. And to be well-prepared for this, he studied at the Rijksacademie of Amsterdam, where between 1970 and 1975 he received an almost classical training.

Drawing was one of his main interests and his love for the art of drawing hasn't stopped growing ever since. Perhaps at was this great liking that after a few years made him put aside his brushes and oil-paints. Instead he took up pastel colours, as working with pastel is more direct, more drawing-like. But he did not forget the charms of painting and so he started to "paint" with his crayons.

Skiing class Monte Cimone, Onno Boerwinkel, 2000, chalk | zoom |

He sets off in an almost abstract way with sweeps, spots and stains. Then he scratches and rubs until the skin on the paper is starting to come to life. He goes on prancing on the surface crosswise with the little crayons until something recognisable appears. The finishing touch is reached with a few lines. Before one realises what has happened, one finds oneself gazing at windblown beach tents, Toscan laundry, pub crawlers, or lazy folk in the cool shade of an old tree. The pictures are unmistakenbly contemporary, but they also breathe the atmosphere of the late nineteenth century. It is as if time is irrelevant, as if time has stepped aside to make room for a timeless, somewhat melancholy longing.

Pull on shoes 1, Onno Boerwinkel, 1997, 30,7x29,5cm., pastel

But apart from this contemplative way of pastel-painting, Boerwinkel draws like a madmen, always on the outlook to catch the fleeting moments of everyday life.