Hans Pruijn (XX) - Paaldansen

Dear Reader,

Hereby I offer a magnificent acrylic painting on canvas titled "Pole Dancing" by Hans Pruijn.
Dimensions: h70 x w90 cm.
Signature Hans Pruijn on front and back.
Purchased in 2011 for €2250, (see photo invoice).

In very good condition.

Poem for Hans Pruijn "Palen" (see photo)
Article "Hans Pruijn lets you rely only on the forces of nature" (see photo).

Reviews among others from Art-garden Drenthe (1); Gemeente Zeist Visual Arts (2); De Gelderlander (3); Martin Pieterse Art critic (4); De Gelderlander during Velp exhibition (5); Structural inner conflict (6).

1.
Hans Pruijn is an exponent of figurative painting on the national stage.
His figurative work is rooted in surrealism and has a humorous tilt.
The figures have a realistic and dramatic character through their form, their pose (often seen from the back or from the side), and the environment in which they appear.
It is work with a strong emotional impact, not built on intricate intentions but simply relying on the power of imagination and skilled craft to convey emotions and evoke moods. He succeeds in not making the painting so absolute that the paintings would collapse under it. His canvases show much variation, also in style. The work is both realistic and carefully detailed - refined - as well as wild and abstract - raw. That combination makes his work appealing and often visually spectacular.
Hans always knows how to insert the right amount of lightness into his work, which gives the paintings contemporary relevance.

2.
The human being and nature in his or her surroundings form the starting point in Hans Pruijn’s work.
The spatiality and feeling part of it fascinates him. He translates this fascination into extraordinarily engaging and often expressive images.
A person, landscape elements, a reference to architecture. 'Painting is telling your own story. I keep reality at a distance so I can bend it to my will and manipulate it as I want.'
As a viewer you can let the imagination run free and repeatedly assign different interpretations to his work. The suggestively placed elements sometimes give the work an underlying charge. Broadly laid out and with sometimes bold material handling, a particular mood is imparted in the work.
He places the figures largely in a mythical environment so that some images acquire a dreamlike quality, despite his direct and pure manner of working. He often uses paint directly from the tube. Other times he works in a highly diluted form or uses spray cans. This gives more power and speed. At a certain moment his feelings seem clear, a moment later that moment has passed.
It is monumental work that possesses a prominent yet moving expressive quality. Let your eyes wander and you embark on a journey of discovery that continually offers new surprises.

3.
As if we are in higher realms...
But, admit it, looking at art is an effort. How do you look? For how long? With what gaze and from what background.
Hans Pruijn’s paintings (born 1957) don’t let you go easily. He is a painter with an aura of force. And painters of paint enjoy coming to Guus Dijkhuizen in Class Five. After nine exhibitions, everyone has basically figured that out. Pruijn paints. He paints a lot, and it is vibrant and full of his brushstrokes and colors. Intense work. Dare to look at it, it pulls you in. And it drags you along. What do we see? This is not only a matter of craft for Pruijn. His paintings, which are nicely large, contextualize, interpret, analyze, dream and seduce. And there are people in them. Something is always happening, but you are not given it as a gift. If a Pruijn painting touches you, you’re sold. Take the work 'Three meters before lunch.' Bent figures are at work in the field. Clearing, harvesting. It will be eaten soon. The food. Raw or cooked. It doesn’t matter. For whom? You don’t need to know. In the foreground we see an attaché case. A small office case in which you can carry not only documents and papers but also your lunch. Your potato salad or sandwiches. With a piece of treat or fruit. Who wonders, as he eats a sandwich or muesli, what preceded all that...
That kind of thing. Or the painting 'Constructor' in which a boy and a small crane and a hefty pile of basalt blocks that naturally cannot be hoisted by that small crane.
A gallery should be filled with people who marvel at what they see, who laugh about it or who are moved by it.
And then talk about it with each other...

4.
Hans Pruijn is a classic example of the emerging trend in figurative painting with a surrealistic tinge.
He distorts, exaggerates, intensifies; in short, he heightens reality.
Melancholy lurks in his work, but his paintings are not somber. The works often contain open spaces in which the viewer can lose themselves in thought. Precisely because Pruijn engages with the grotesque so intensely, you are not drawn into sadness, you do not sink into the empty field of his anonymous figures.
In caricature, extremely exaggerated details and touches of humor belong, and this is found in abundant measure in Pruijn’s work.
Pruijn manages to convincingly render both details and the larger context, allowing the underlying atmosphere in his work to be exploited to the fullest. He demonstrates that personally narrative content still has value in art after the wave of cool, documentary observations of reality in the past decade.

5.
When Hans Pruijn puts the backgrounds of his paintings on the canvas, he surely uses a trowel instead of a brush or spatula. Dramatic brushstrokes for intense landscapes, with dark storm clouds over broad panoramas. And then, in that moving setting, there stands a man in a poorly fitting suit, silently gazing at his yo-yo, much more finely painted than his surroundings. The effect is surreal. Through a combination of vigorous and restrained brushstrokes, his work has something of the beauty of paintings and interpretations of Spanish Baroque painters like Murillo. Then it doesn’t matter whether the figures are harvesting a field of coal or dancing a sensual tango. That touch more drama makes Pruijn’s paintings especially strong and 'fun'.

6.
Hans is a painter who skillfully fuses suggestion and figurativeness in a single image. He seeks the tension between meaning and material, and thus serves the viewer expressive dramatic imagery.
A throughline in Hans Pruijn’s work is the structural duel between man, nature, and culture. Realism gains an otherworldly appearance in his work. Different cultures, times, and spheres are combined and linked like a collage. This gives his motifs a strange intensity. His work is dynamic and expressive. The boundaries between light and shadow, air, land, and man are sharp. The colors are strong and high-contrast, and the paint is applied forcefully. The perspective conveys this dynamic impression. He places his figures mostly in the foreground of his paintings, absorbed in themselves, cut off from the background. Sometimes your eye lands on a color or a marvelous brushstroke. Only then do you notice that none of the figures looks at you. The work thus gains a consciously anonymous character for the observer. The gaze is averted. As if the portrait is determined by the fact that there is one gaze intended for the outside world and one for the portrayed person. In this way he projects his desires and dreams onto the experiential world of his painted characters. The play of colors does not completely sever the relations between people and their environment but also creates coherence. Yet reality is kept at a distance, so your imagination is endlessly stimulated.

About Hans Pruijn

Hans Pruijn (1957) graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts in Arnhem. He lives and works in his studio-home with the “TOONKAMER” on Steynlaan in Zeist, where he exhibits his paintings, often in combination with work by fellow artists. A throughline in his work forms the structural duel between man/nature and culture. His material use and color are vibrant and intense. Dare to look, and it will pull you in. His paintings contextualize, explain, analyze, dream, and allure. For him, it is more important to convey the mood and experience of a landscape than to provide an exact, true-to-life representation of reality. The often-present poles in his painted landscapes provide a path back; they give support/stability—a common route in our lives.