reconsidering a rich Dutch tradition 

For more than seventeen years, the Dutch painter Wessel Huisman uses almost only black and white paint, to paint light. His light. Throughout his study at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Arnhem (NL) he was fascinated by the working of light. After years of artistic training in which he developed his skills, he saw himself confronted with a very simple but crucial question: how do I make light material? What does that mean, how should I apply my paint in a way that - taking into account all the possibilities and impossibilities of the material - light becomes paint and, at the same time, paint becomes light? He never wanted or felt a strong urge to work in any kind of tradition. But during the years he realized that his fascination for clarity and, linked to that, a certain notion of space in his paintings, fitted perfectly within a very rich Dutch tradition. Predecessors like Memling, Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Gogh and Mondrian are just a few examples of this vital Dutch phenomenon, although all these artists developed different ways of expression. Also in Huisman’s way of working, it is not a matter of tradition for the sake of tradition as such. The past can never be the standard for the now, when it has no meaning in the present. Tradition always needs to be linked to ‘renaissance’, to reconsider. What artistic and esthetic notions are potent enough to last?
In that light, painting means also keep alive a language of images, a language which has a specific material side. Thus, although already existing for thousands of years, painting can still be as vital and fresh as ever, as long as you are willing to learn to use it, as long as you are willing to take time and pay attention to read it.