Jan Roeland
The shape has to be interesting and contain some intrigue, so that you can look at it again and again.
Jan Roeland via NRC Handelsblad, 2007
The ordinary was freed from burden of the listless gaze when Jan Roeland (1935–2016, the Netherlands) would paint. Though his work may, to a degree, be seen as abstract, with Roeland abstraction never begets bewilderment. He painted an object’s essence, using his idiosyncratic and often humorous approach. Perhaps the object loses the complexity of the individual in Roeland’s work, but what is won is the potency of a field containing form. The object connects with its surroundings, takes position and speaks in lucent tones.
