Biography::

After attending the Faculty of Art at the York St John University, the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven and the Faculty of Art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Hans Meertens graduated from the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2000. In that same year he was nominated for the Piet Bakker Prize, an incentive prize for young Utrecht School of the Arts graduates with outstanding talent. In the following years Meertens' artworks were exhibited in a variety of artist-run spaces and galleries. Giulio Cesare & Co Gallery in ’s-Hertogenbosch (NL) presented Meertens' first solo exhibition “Solo Inferno” in 2004, soon followed by a second solo exhibition in 2005, titled “Invocatio!”.
More recently, Meertens' artworks were on view at the Museum of Gorcum (2006), Caelum Gallery, New York (2006), Gallery Clifford, Odense and Daugård, Denmark (2007-2008) and Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery in New York (2006 -2008). An important part of his work is included in the collections of enthusiastic collectors around the world and Meertens has been commissioned by major companies such as Porsche, Nedap and Metro. After winning a commercial pitch, five young artists -among which Hans Meertens- were commissioned by Ajax Amsterdam to create a painting to be included in both the Annul Report 2006 and an exclusive charity auction held by a Sotheby's auctioneer in 2007, to raise funds for the Johan Cruyff Foundation. From late 2007 until early 2008 an overview of Meertens' paintings and drawings were exhibited at Gallery Clifford, Odense, during his solo exhibition “Counterphobia”. Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery presented Meertens' first solo exhibition in New York in April/May 2008. This exhibition -entitled “Remote Control”- featured both retrospective and new works. (To open the Monkdogz press release click here, for pictures of the opening reception by photographer Sam Chadwick click here).
From September 13 until October 12 2008, Gallery Clifford presented "Sweet Fever"; another solo exhibition by Hans Meertens in Daugård, Denmark.

From 2001 until summer 2007, before devoting himself completely to his art, Meertens combined his work as an autonomous artist with a teaching profession in Art and Cultural Social Studies at secundary school Het Nicolaaslyceum in Amsterdam. As a singer/songwriter (File Under Shane) Meertens independently released two critically acclaimed cd's; Soul On Fire (2006) and Trenches (2005). A comprehensive catalogue of Meertens' art will be published in 2009.

Exhibitions:
2000 - 2008: Click here for a list of (selected) exhibitions

Additional information:
2006 - 2008: Mondriaan Foundation Amsterdam/4 x granted residence in New York loft
2005:       Finalist Award Winner New York Festivals/Category Company Literature/Nedap Annual Report
                (Concept: AGH&Friends/Graphic design: Studio Kluif/Paintings: Hans Meertens)
2000:         Nominee Piet Bakker Prize, Utrecht School of the Arts

Music:
* File Under Shane: Soul On Fire
Album, 2006
* File Under Shane: Trenches
EP, 2005

Commissions:

Gallery Clifford
Ajax Amsterdam
Team Bruns
NEDAP
Porsche
AGH&Friends
Studio Kluif
Somsenmusic
ZOA Vluchtelingenzorg
Metro
1 Minute Junior Award

Publications/Miscellaneous:

2008 Horsens Folkeblad 15/9 (by Martin H. Pedersen)
2008 Fyens Stiftstidende Denmark 14/9 ("Meertens sofapiger på væggene")
2008 Vejle Amts Folkeblad 13/9 ("Lystige sofapiger på galleri")
2008 Kulturplakaten DK
2008 Art Knowledge News ("Hans Meertens at Monkdogz Urban Art")
2008 Gallery Guide NYC # 4
2007 Magasinet KUNST # 6 ("Den rå sandhed" by Ole Lindboe)
2007 Kunstavisen # 10/Nov/Dec. (Denmark)
2007 Radio Denmark / Kunstmagasinet (Interview by Max Fage-Pedersen)
2007 Fyens Stiftstidende Denmark 19/Nov ("Kunst for kræsne købere" by Maria Slej-Hasselstrøm)
2007 Official Ajax website ("Voetbalkunst levert 'Cruyff' veel op")
2007 Gallery & Studio Magazine # 2 Feb/March (By Ed McCormack)
2006 The New Yorkers (Live TV interview by Jim Chladek)
2006 Chelsea Now Volume # 1 Issue # 3 October 13 - 19 (By Richard Calderhead)
2006 Magasinet KUNST # 6 (By Ole Lindboe)
2006 Ajax Annual Figures 2005 (Commission)
2006 Ajax Magazine Issue # 3 ("Ajax presenteert jong talent in kunst")
2006 Het Parool ("Ajax presenteert jong talent in kunst")
2006 EZ Magazine (Interview)
2006 The Voyeur Magazine Issue # 3 (Interview)
2006 Ajax Amsterdam (Commission)
2006 Verse Noten Radio (Review)
2006 Heaven, Belgium (E-zine)
2006 Dreun, Belgium (E-zine)
2006 Musicfrom II/interview (E-zine)
2006 Musicfrom I/review (E-zine)
2006 Kindamuzik/review (E-zine)
2006 File Under/review (E-zine)
2006 Studio Kluif "Purists are boring" (Catalogue)
2006 Planet Trash (Review)
2006 Radio Ramonaaa (Interview)
2005 Nedap Annual Figures (Commission)
2005 Fabchannel (Concert broadcast)
2005 Porsche (Commission)
2005 Oor Magazine
2005 LiveXS Magazine
2005 FRET Magazine
2005 Planet Trash (Review)
2005 Verse Noten Radio (Review)
2005 Kink FM Radio (Interview)
2005 Radio Ramonaaa
2005 EssensiE Magazine
2005 File Under (E-zine)
2005 Popkrant Midden Nederland
2005 Musicfrom (E-zine)
2005 Kindamuzik (E-zine)
2004 Brabants Dagblad (News paper)
2003 Dagblad Metro (News paper)
2003 Radio BRTO
2003 BN/De Stem (News paper)
2002 Denkbeeld I (Catalogue)
2000 SBKU Foundation for Visual Arts Utrecht (Catalogue)
2000 Eindexamencatalogus HKU (Catalogue)
1999 Utrecht's Nieuwsblad (News paper)

Texts:

'With an element of irony and a tinge of menace, Hans Meertens transposes his dynamic inner visions onto the canvas, exploring fundamental, universal themes such as love and loss, human relations and the role of the individual in today's society. In his acclaimed and ever expanding Sofa Girls series, the various shapes and expressions of the artist's fictional muses are set against a couch, a floor lamp and a living room and its supposed security. These works -texturally rich and vividly coloured- focus on intimacy, contact and communication and the issue of control within that. Hinting at psychosexual tensions, Meertens reveals a much darker side to his practice with his Counterphobia series: in his most sober painting style so far, he exposes beautifully shaped women as forlorn travellers through desolate landscapes of poisoned woods, nuclear devastation and genetic mutation in a sinister and apocalyptic world. In one work these riggish woodland nymphs may appear vulnerable, in another impressively dangerous. There is a charged and yet restrained atmosphere created by unsettling, dreamlike juxtapositions and the tension between innocence and an almost palpable sense of violence.
His elaborate, intricately worked paintings, collages and drawings show both influences of American Graffiti and European, decadent, narrative art. Strength and energy are the trademarks of his instinctive painting style in which he blurs the boundaries between painting and drawing. For creating his graphic punk, as Meertens himself describes his art, he uses and combines multiple techniques. Mainly he works with acrylics, Indian ink, oil sticks and paint spray, but often he also adds bits of paper and fabric to his paintings. Laced Fantasies, his latest series of paintings, consists of stitched-together sections of unstretched canvas, decorated with lace on the sides. Combining different layers together into one cohesive entity, he creates dramatic levels and atmospheres, which entice the viewers' eye to discover his expressive, mysterious language that has the power to pull the viewer into his work. Hans Meertens' artistry raises questions, causes chills, calls forth strange associations, evokes smiles, provokes discussions and thus, it is extremely touching.

Hans Meertens arrives from Amsterdam with his dark shadows, imagination and sense of humor intact. His characters -although appearing to exist in an alternative space- are in reality extremely focused in the here and now. So much so that at some point one gets the feeling that it is the viewer who is on exhibition and being studied by the pigment and canvas characters of Meertens' mind. Although fine arts trained in Great Britain, Belgium and Holland, Meertens brings an outsiders' rawness to his beautifully executed characters. A combination that engages, then seduces the viewer and in the end leaves you feeling somewhat haunted yet strangely fulfilled'.

Press Release
Monkdogz Urban Art, New York
2008
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‘It is not a coincidence that Hans Meertens is being exhibited in New York; his paintings contain exactly the indispensable pulse, drama and atmosphere that is required to catch on in the Big Apple. Meertens is on his way to become an international artist, with a potential that stretches much further than merely the presence.

Art can come across as both a striking fist and a sweet caress, sometimes even at the very same time. Hans Meertens is among the artists with the talent to create art that can do both at once. In a style that is essentially figurative, his work has the impact of such a fist; wrenched around strong stories, raw humor and apocalyptic imagery, one can suspect only hell to break loose if the fist will fail to maintain its firm grip. What is slipping through its tight fingers is naughty, erotically dangerous even. In one of his works, Lady Lazarus (2007), we see a woman at a picknick cloth at what seems to be a graveyard area. Besides being slightly sexually provocative, her position on all fours is almost animalistic in its approach. This is accentuated even stronger by her wolflike red eyes and her mouth that is covered with blood. The work is from Meertens’ Counterphobia (2007) series, in which he confronts us with our perspective of vulnerability and strength. With his black humor he raises questions about our perception of preys and hunters: who’s in control and who is being controlled? When women are being portrayed as confrontational as in this series, exposing their inner wildness, it is like the artist is pealing off the varnished layers of civilization. In a reaction to our hectic, busy and fast lane lives he emphasizes -with the charm of a demon- that we are all ‘still naked to our God’. By doing so, Hans Meertens is very much a contemporary artist, slicing off the fancy surface of our modern existence. According to all circumstances, Hans Meertens’ world -showing influences by music, commercials, movies, comic books and street art- is raw, pure and uncensored. It is visual art unplugged'.

Ole Lindboe
Writer, art critic and chief editor of Magasinet Kunst, Denmark
2007
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'Meertens creates an enticing fusion of American graffiti and European decadent narrative art, that results in a very unique style that pulls the viewer into the special intimate worlds that he conjures up'.

Gallery Guide NYC
April 2008

The New Yorkers, LIVE tv interview, 2006

Links:
Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery, New York: Click here
Gallery Clifford, Denmark: Click here
My Art Space: Click here
File Under Shane: Click here
File Under Shane on My Space: Click here
Exto.nl (Dutch artsite): Click here
Artolive.nl (Dutch artsite): Click here
Mowa, Museum of Weird Art (Belgian artsite): Click here
Hans Meertens at Saatchi's Online Gallery: Click here
Saatchi's Online Gallery: Click here
Agora Gallery: Click here

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