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!”.
Since then, Meertens' artworks were on view randomly at places such as Caelum Gallery, New York (2006), the Museum of Gorcum (2006 & 2010), Gallery Clifford, Odense and Daugård, Denmark (2007-2010) and Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery in New York (2006 -2010). 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, Studio Kluif, Metro and Ajax Amsterdam/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). In the Winter of 2008, Gallery Clifford in Daugård presented “Sweet Fever”; Meertens' fifth solo exhibition and his second in Denmark. The first comprehensive catalogue of Meertens' art was presented in Gallery Clifford on October 9, 2009. The book "Sweet Fever – The Art of Hans Meertens" contains over 150 images and nine reflections on Meertens’ art by several authors from different countries.

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).

Exhibitions
2000 - 2009 Click here for a list of (selected) exhibitions

Book
Sweet Fever - The Art of Hans Meertens
Organized by Ole Lindboe & Hans Meertens
Texts by Ole Lindboe/Jennifer Larson/Emma McMillan/Spencer Drate/Robert D. Hogge
Roberta Gregory/Imke Ruigrok/Dennis Elbers/Piet Augustijn/Hans Meertens
Hardcover: 158 pages
ISBN: 9789090245584
To purchase: click here

Music
2006   File Under Shane/Soul On Fire/CD 12-Track Album
2006   File Under Shane/Introduction FUS/CD 4-Track Sampler
2005   File Under Shane/Trenches/CD 5-Track EP

Additional information
2009   Sponsorship from The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Copenhagen
2009   Winner NYAXE Gallery Spring competition/St Palo Alto/USA
2008   NBKS/BKKC Publication Grant
2008   Mondriaan Foundation Amsterdam/granted residence in New York loft
2007   Mondriaan Foundation Amsterdam/granted residence in New York loft
2006   Mondriaan Foundation Amsterdam/2x 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

Commissions

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

Publications/Miscellaneous

2010 BK-Informatie 2010 #3
2010 Kunstbeeld (Gesignaleerd - Machteld Leij)
2010 BN/DeStem ("Wulpse Sofa Girls zijn niet voor de poes" by Rinze Brandsma)
2009 Painting incorporated for BKKC house style (Design: Studio Kluif)
2009 Vejle Amts Folkeblad
2009 BK-Informatie 2009 #4
2009 No Tears Magazine #4 "Freaks"
2008 Horsens Folkeblad 15/9 ("Piger i sofaer" 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 ( "Hans Meertens udstiller på Galleri Clifford")
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 De Volkskrant (publication political cartoon)
2006 Ajax Annual Figures publication
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 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 publication
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 (Expodium 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
Robert Hogge & Marina Hadley 2008
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'Meertens'use of powerful and immediate imagery has a tremendous impact on anybody that walks into the gallery space (...) Meertens deals with social issues through pictures that radiate a sense of outsider, bad-boy politics (...)'
Emma McMillan, M.A. - 'Remote Control' - Sweet Fever; The Art of Hans Meertens - 2009
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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.'
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
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'Also including a knockout painting of two natty dudes who resemble the Gold Dust Twins with Don King hairdos ensconced on a polka-dot sofa by Hans Meertens, a Neo-Expressionist from Amsterdam (...) (...) this is one of the liveliest group shows you are likely to see in Chelsea in this or any season (...)'
Ed McCormack - Gallery & Studio Magazine - February 2007
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'So call this Chelsea’s Golden Age of Art. It surely can’t get much better - right now it has everything your little heart might desire. How about something wild and crazy? Trot right up to 27th Street and see the just opened exhibit at Monkdogz. As you walk in the door, you'll be stunned at the sight of u huge nude...spread out on the canvas. Some Americans will think it portrays a crime scene; the (very) young Dutch painter Hans Meertens sees the female as simply floating in reverie on her mattress.'
Richard Calderhead - Chelsea Now - October 2006

The New Yorkers, LIVE tv interview, 2006

Links
My Art Space: Click here
File Under Shane: Click here
File Under Shane on My Space: Click here
'Mowa'- Museum of Weird Art: Click here
Saatchi's Online Gallery: Click here
Agora Gallery: Click here
Talentdatabase.com: Click here
Art Review.com: Click here
www.wotartist.com: Click here
EZ Magazine: Click here
No Tears Magazine: Click here
Stichting KOP: Click here
Mondriaan Foundation: Click here

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