Maurice van Venrooij : drawings - paintings - murals

Maurice van Venrooij is a contemporary artist based in Helmond, the Netherlands. Influenced by his architectural background from the Eindhoven University of Technology he creates meticulous ink drawings on paper, robust impasto paintings and large-scale murals, exploring space and the behavior of geometric shapes within predefined rules. Maurice van Venrooij doesn't paint, he constructs paintings. Starting from an apparently simple design that emerges from his background as an architect, he builds up the paint, layer by layer. In the days and weeks that follow, a skin develops - layered and tactile - in which the act of creation itself is preserved. Central to each work is the construction of a spatial order, formed through a repetitive, human action. That human execution is not an imperfect addition, but a necessary condition to counterbalance the doctrine of an overly rigid system. His work constitutes an ongoing spatial investigation into the tension between order and imperfection. In public commissions, such as the murals for the new council chamber in Helmond, the action itself — the stamping carried out by citizens — also creates a connection between the work on the wall and the social function of the space.