POLDER-ARTJasper J.M. Geers (Amsterdam, 1974) studied physical geography at the university of Utrecht and philosophy at the free university of Amsterdam, next to his personal study of the techniques of painting.
Like many Dutch painters, the typical landscape of Holland with its interaction between land, water and air, forms a big inspiration for his work.
With Vermeer he shares the love for cartography, with Mondriaan the passion for construction, although these constructions (or compositions) are not based on a theosophical fundament, but on a rational-historical one.
POLDERS
For a good understanding of his art, it's important that you know what a polder is. A polder (Dutch) is a piece of land reclamed from a lake or the sea.
LINKS: especially the last fifteen links in the list, give more information about Polders, Dutch landscape,and landarchitecture for foreigners.
ORDER: POLDERSTRUCTURES
His cartographic work shows the rationality of Dutch landarchitecture since the 17th century. His series of 'Polderstructures' (Polderstructuren) is made up of 'blow-ups' of detailed maps, peeled to the core of his interest; the land-waterstructure in the full spotlight of human rationality. He calls this new type of constructivism; CARTOGRAPHIC CONSTRUCTIVISM.
He uses special oilpaint for these paintings: Oilpaint of the brand 'OLD-HOLLAND', the only oilpaint still made in a windmill.
The forces of wind combined with the windmills were responsible for the dry-keeping of the polders. Especially in the old days. You can say; Holland is born out of wind.
The paint of OLD-HOLLAND is also born out of wind.
See the link between the paint and the polderstructures he paints.
SYMBIOSE: THE IDEA HOLLAND
In his other series 'The Idea Holland' (De Idee Holland), he poures out the other end of the line, chaos; strange organic and physical structures and streams collide with the symbols of order; windmills, lighthouses and dikes. 'The land of human rationality' looks much more vulnerable here,..and this is also the realistic situation: Holland is vulnerable and there is no place for megalomania....,but the status quo between water and land, so far, is beautiful.
CHAOS: ODE TO WATER
This series completes the esthetic 3-unity of Dutch landscape (order-symbiose-chaos).
Paintings of Status Zero, pure dynamic physical processes: A constant battle between land, water and wind.
LANDRECLAMATIONS: VIRUS
In this serie landreclamations (Inpolderingen) he explores the
boundaries of the typical Dutch tradition of landreclamation: 'We reclame land from the sea and make topographic maps of it as if we suffer from a virus. Why not treat other objects as if they were the bottum of the sea, why not reclame them and put them in a topographic map of rationality? wouldn't that be save?'
The poldervirus has started to infect other objects...see 'poldervirusart'
Next to these series he also produces philosophical based work and free work.
(look at 'los werk')
