Verdijk's abstract work delves into contrasts, symbolism, balance, and universality, reflecting his passion for anthropology and (Eastern) philosophy. He observed, for instance, that the symbols of Native Americans sometimes coincided with ancient Celtic symbols, and he was endlessly fascinated by the fact that communities, distant both in form and geography, used similar shapes. Furthermore, the patterns in his paintings occasionally resemble rock paintings or hieroglyphs. The painter's versatile and continuously innovative practice is marked by an immense curiosity. This is also reflected in the extent of his world explorations. He spent time in Italy, working at the Centro Internazionale di Sperimentazione Artistiche in Boissano, in Germany, where he completed a residency program at Villa Waldberta, as well as in France, Portugal, the United States, and various African countries.
As a result, his practice is difficult to categorise, as it continually evolved and grew due to new influences and encounters. In his works on paper and canvas, he found a unique balance between form, colour, and space. In the 1950s, he created black matter paintings, which, to an extent, reflected the abstract movements of his era. Subsequently, he began to increasingly chart his own course. He enjoyed experimenting with various techniques and materials — from plaster and sand to spray paint and textile — and in the 1960s, for instance, he explored more spatial structures, inspired by pop art and urban dynamics.
There was one country that had an exceptional influence on Verdijk, and that was Japan. After two trips in 1991 and 1992, his works increasingly exhibited a strong philosophical depth and an interest in the relationship between an object and the negative space around it. This resulted in minimalist compositions with rich, layered colour planes. In 1994, the artist moved to the French countryside, where he distilled all his acquired knowledge and experiences into paintings and works on paper. But even during this period, he continued to travel and experiment extensively.
Gerard Verdijk, Signs between Two Ochres, 1996, SmithDavidson Gallery
Verdijk's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Dordrechts Museum, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, the Stedelijk Museum and the Noordbrabants Museum. It was exhibited in Japan, France, Italy, and the United States and his paintings have been included in the collections of the Dordrechts Museum, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Centraal Museum. In 2019, his wife Josephine Sloet published a monograph on his life and work, the result of thirteen years of extensive research. Sloet, an artist herself, studied at the prestigious Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. She wrote the work at the request of her husband.
