27 february 2024, Flor Linckens
Last chance: the deeper layers of joy in the work of Erik Mattijssen
Erik Mattijssen: There are few artists whose presence radiates such an unwavering sense of cheerfulness – an embodiment of sunshine with a face that always appears to be graced with a smile. This joyful demeanor appears to permeate his artworks, which emit a similar sense of kindhearted lightness. His magnetic and brightly coloured works evoke a sense of wonder and nostalgia. Yet there also seems to be something more sinister lurking behind this apparent simplicity and cheerfulness, a subtle layer that piques our curiosity even further. Until 3 March, his work is displayed in a solo exhibition at Galerie Fleur en Wouter in Amsterdam.
During his residencies in Paris and Berlin, the artist maintained a blog where he discussed his "Toys" series. Mattijssen says, "What started as a pleasurable, albeit somewhat non-committal exercise in colour, gradually grew into a real family and — unintentionally — also a reflection of the times. My memories of toys are already markedly different from someone who is ten years younger. Each generation has its own toys. When we were clearing out the attic of our family home, I photographed a lot of toys from which I could now draw. I also received photos and found great inspiration in the 1930s toys I documented in an old house in the Black Forest, where friends once invited me. The internet has also been a major resource. Now, I could finally do something with all the material from the Pollocks Toy Museum in London, which I visited for the first time when I was seventeen and which left an indelible impression on me." The series would eventually take shape in the book 'Dad's Monkey and a Duck on Wheels'.
Mattijssen has previously held solo exhibitions at Kunsthal, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Museum Jan Cunen and Museum MORE, and his work has been included in the collections of, among others, the Stedelijk Museum, the Centraal Museum, the City of Amsterdam, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, AkzoNobel, the VandenBroek Foundation, DELA and various hospitals. Moreover, he has won several awards, including the NN Art Award as well as its accompanying public choice award.
He also taught at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam for about thirty years, the institute where he completed his own studies. When I asked him in 2022 what his ultimate advice was for young artists, he gave an answer that mirrors the best advice from my father: you are your own measure. Mattijssen: "That may sound obvious, but it isn't: I would advise them not to chase anything: to make sure that the work you create is truly yours. That you don't care too much about the criticism of others, or about what happens to be fashionable at that point in time. It’s important that you are the only one who decides which way to go." It appears that he effectively heeded his own counsel.
