Meijers mines the language of the underground for its raw power and immediacy of communication. A musician, and longtime fixture on the Dutch indie music scene, Meijers portrays his post-punk subjects with reverence, imbuing them with a dignity they are not normally accorded in contemporary society. Pin ups, prophets, mystics and pimps are lovingly adorned with the flotsam and jetsam of the streets.
The creative tension in his work resides in his exuberant embrace of heroic expressionist painting – while simultaneously mythologizing his figures that are far from noble. Still, like his literary heroes, Genet, Celine and Bukowski, Meijers does not liberate his figures from hell, but rather brings his viewer deep into the spirit of the world they inhabit.
Rik Meijers trained at the Academie Beeldende Kunsten (Visual Arts Academy) in Maastricht and Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Works by Rik Meijers are included in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum, Amseterdam, S.M.A.K. Gent, Fries Museum Leeuwarden, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem, Schunck Heerlen, Museum Het Domein Sittard, ABN-AMRO Amsterdam, Océ Venlo, De Nederlandsche Bank Amsterdam and DSM Art Collection. In 1996 he won the Koninklijke Subsidie for free painting and in 2000 the Wolvecampprijs.
www.ftn-books.com has now the Bonnefantenmuseum catalogue available.
