Art piece of the month: May
Each month we select a work from the (DSM) collection that inspires, fascinates, or engages us in another way. For the month of May, that work is by Rik Meijers.
Rik Meijers – Mystical Portrait (2007)
mixed media on canvas
Rik Meijers creates dark, unconventional compositions using unusual materials. In his paintings, he incorporates not only paint but also tar, feathers, shards of glass, beads, beer caps, and birdseed. These material choices contribute to the layered nature and physical presence of his work.
Meijers draws on a wide range of sources, including folk art, Victorian illustration, American outsider art, Catholic ex-votos, and psychedelic record covers from the 1960s and 1970s. His focus is mainly on figures from the fringes of society.
Marginal characters such as drunks, prophets, and outcasts recur, as do martyrs, mystics, and saints. He himself describes these figures as outsiders, drifters, and dropouts. In Mystical Portrait, these themes come together in a powerful and distinctive visual language.
Rik Meijers - Mystiek portret, 2007, gemengde techniek op doek