Wouter Stips

Wouter Stips was born in 1944. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam. After completing his studies, he engaged in various forms of visual and applied arts. He exhibited prints and paintings, made animated films in Prague, created puppets in Paris, wrote and directed theater productions, and published several books and comics. Starting in 1980, he focused on writing, directing, and developing television programs, including documentaries about theater and cabaret, as well as drama and comedy series. From 1990 onward, he served as creative director at IDTV and Endemol. After 15 intense years in television, he decided to return to his first love: free painting. In a short time, he developed a unique, distinctive style. The paintings radiate joy and absurdist madness. Each work is an ode to his regained artistic freedom. In his work, Stips takes you into his associative, imaginative realm of wondrous human-animals, cupids, horses, fish, apples, birds, and other bizarre depictions. Notable is his predominantly lucid use of color with monochromatic, unmixed pigments, into which he occasionally incorporates chalk. Taken together, it forms a lighthearted kind of surrealism. Stips imposes no limits on himself, except perhaps that he occasionally steps away from his visual bombardments and limits himself to a calm, tranquil composition. Stips’ work is narrative and theatrical-nanef; at first glance, it evokes a sense of cheerfulness, but upon closer inspection, it invites reflection.