Nemo Jantzen

Dutch artist Nemo Jantzen has established himself over the last 20 years working as a contemporary artist best known for his Pop Art, installations, and hyperrealistic paintings. His artwork is established in most leading art markets and galleries in New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Singapore among others, and can be found in renowned art collections both public institutions and private. POPA Museum of Art, Switzerland, Acalzar Financial Group Public Collection, Weelock Properties Singapore, Caixa Barcelona City Cultural Institution, Claudia Schieffer Actress, among others.

Born and raised in The Hague, after his study of art, design and photography at the RTO in Rotterdam he moved to Antwerp, working as a Creative Director and billboard artist while further developing his technique and style as a fine artist. After several years in Belgium, and a year traveling through Asia and the Middle East, he settled down in Spain, dedicating his career to the making and the promoting fine art, mentoring other emerging artists, and consistently exploring new mediums and new avenues to bring the artwork to light. His work has consistently explored the dialogue of narrative tropes in an image soaked contemporary environment.

Early works found pop-inspired imagery creating new contexts from photo journalism and advertising, with highly detailed enlarged objects placed out of their natural environment. Successive shows moved on to use and explore cinematic stills as the source of a visual collective consciousness. 'Hyper-realistic' work takes the dialogue to the next level by incorporating the vocabulary of cinematography and the expediency of digital photography as an inspiration for the new paintings. Nemo’s hyper-realist narrative paintings and his mixed media work evoke the iconic images embedded in the collective unconscious, illustrating the overlap between our memories of images from contemporary cinema and our real-world experiences.

In the latest series, Inspired by media, pop culture, and film Jantzen takes Neo-pointillism to the next level utilizing thousands collection of photography, cinematographic stills, and other collected material encapsulated in glass spheres hiding and revealing a subject filtered idealized world through the eye of the beholder and depicting the banality of our society and trends in symbolic evocation of a contemporary human journey. The artist is not interested in fragmentation of objects in the real world he is interested in disclosing the unity underlying “reality".

“I do not just tell a single story neither portray a world of according to the voyeur. With large-scale images built from hundreds of small images, each story is encapsulated in a spheres of glass, my work keeps reminding to viewers: 'The more you look, the less you see' “ —Nemo Jantzen

2021

Art Madrid, Artburo, Madrid, ES, Art Karlsruhe, Villa del Arte, , ES, Solo show, MContempoary, Sydney, AU, Solo show Fremin gallery, New York, US, Group show, HOFA, London, UK, Solo show, Villa del Arte, Barcelona, ES, Group show, HOFA, Mykonos, GR

2020

Istanbul Contemporary, Fremin gallery, IST, Solo show Fremin gallery, New York, US, Sydney Contemporary, MContemporary, AUS, Solo show Mensing gallery, Berlin, GER, Art New York, Fremin gallery, New York, US, Group show, MContempoary, Sydney, AU, Group show, HOFA, London, UK, Group show, Villa del Arte, Barcelona, ES

2019

Solo Exhibition, Mensing, Cologne, Germany Solo Exhibition, Mensing, Berlin, Germany Solo Exhibition, Mensing, Hamburg, Germany Solo Exhibition, Mensing, Hannover, Germany Solo Exhibition, Mensing, Hamm, Germany Art Karlsruhe, Germany Los Angeles Art Show K+Y Gallery

2018

Solo Show House of Fine Art, London Blank Space,Context, Miami Texas Contemporary, ZK Gallery Solo Show San Francisco, ZK Gallery Solo Show, M Contemporary Sydney Contemporary Istanbul, Villa del Arte ILOV Collection, Shangai Kunts House, Hannover, Germany Los Angeles Art Show K+Y Gallery Art New York Blank Space, New York Art Karlsruhe, Reitz, Germany Art Cologne, Reitz, Germany Group Show Rarety Gallery, Mikonos Group Show BelAir Gallery, St. Tropez Group Show BelAir Gallery, Geneve Courchevel Gulier Show, France Group Show BelAir Gallery, St. Tropez Group Show BelAir Gallery, Geneve Group Show BelAir Gallery, Miami Lille Grand Palais ArtUp, K+Y, France

2017

Art New York Blank Space, New York Art Market Hamptons, New York Art Central K+Y Gallery Paris, Hong Kong Art Stage Singapore Mark Hachem Gallery, Singapore Los Angeles Art Show K+Y Gallery New York Solo Show Blank Space New York Show Artered Gallery Art Jakarta, VDG Galleries, Indonesia Group Show Kunst Haus Hannover, Germany Group Show Rarety Gallery, Mikonos Group Show BelAir Gallery, St. Tropez Group Show BelAir Gallery, Geneve Group Show Cube Gallery, London

2016

Art Miami, Wanrooij Gallery Art Central Hong Kong Cube Gallery Art Central K+Y Gallery Paris, Hong Kong Art Stage Singapore Mark Hachem Gallery, Singapore Art Wynwood K+Y Gallery Paris, Los Angeles Art Show K+Y Gallery New York Show Artered Gallery Group Show BelAir Gallery, St. Tropez Group Show BelAir Gallery, Geneve Group Show Cube Gallery, London

2015

Art Basel Scope Miami K+Y Gallery, USA Art Toronto Mark Hachem Gallery, Canada Art New York, New York, K+Y Gallery, USA Cube Gallery Art Hamptons New York, UK Istanbul Contemporary, K+Y Gallery, Istanbul K+Y Gallery Scope Art Basel, Switzerland Art Silicon Valley San Francisco USA, Wanrooij Gallery FIAC 8e Avenue Paris, K+Y Gallery Spring Cube Gallery, London Spring Wanrooij Gallery, Amsterdam Art Toronto, Canada Mark Hachem Gallery SOFA Chicago, USA Mark Hachem Gallery Art Expo Malaysia, ODA Kuala Lumpur Art Jakarta, ODA Singapore Art Southampton New York , K+Y Gallery Art Hamptons New York , Cube Gallery, New York Battersea,Woolf Gallery, UK Art Wynwood, K+Y Gallery, Miami LA Art Show, LA K+Y Gallery ArtStage Singapore Mark Hachem/DeMedics Gallery Singapore Shows Artered Gallery

2014 - 1991

Art Hamptons Mark Hachem/DeMedics Gallery Singapore Shows Artered Gallery London, Paris and Toronto Shows Envie d'Art Gallery Hong Kong Retrospect Gallery 2013 London Art, UK, Artered Gallery NY Scope Basel Switzerland, Artered Gallery NY Solo Show, Artered Gallery, NY 2012 Houston Fine Art Fair, Artered Gallery, TX Group Show, Artered Gallery, NY 2011 Art Chicago, Artered Gallery, Chicago 2010 Wynwood Miami, Artered Gallery 2009 Spring Rotterdam, Holland, Villa del Arte galleries 2009 Line art, Gent, Belgium, Villa del Arte galleries 2008 ARTI08 The Hague, Holland 2008 BuyArt Fair, Manchester England 2008 Newcastle Gateshead, England 2008 GEAF, Gooi en Emland Artfair 2008 Buyart fair, Newcastle, England 2008 Konstmässen, Stockholm Art fair, Sweden 2008 Open Art fair Utrecht, Holland 2008 Northern Art fair, Harrowgate, England 2007 Galerie Giardino, Berg en Terblijt, Holland 2007 ArtNime, Nimes, France 2007 Salzburg World fine Art fair, Austria 2007 Galeria Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain 2007 Glasgow Art fair, Scotland 2006 Villa del Arte galleries, Barcelona, Spain 2006 Galerie Giardino, Berg en Terblijt, Holland 2005 So-Hyun Gallery, New York, U.S 2005 IAF (Inspired Art Fair), London, England 2005 Barcelona Art Galleries, Barcelona, Spain 2005 Caixa Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain 2004 So-Hyun Gallery, New York, U.S 2004 Barcelona Art Gallery, Barcelona, Spain 2000 Villa del Arte, Barcelona, Spain 2000 Fundacion contra Sida, Barcelona, Spain 1999 Villa del Arte galleries: Gerona, Spain 1999 Hotel Rivoli, Barcelona, Spain 1999 Villa del Arte galleries, Barcelona, Spain 1999 Catalana Occidente, Barcelona, Spain 1997 Casa de Cultura, Calpe, Spain 1993 Kunst Hal, Antwerp, Belgium 1991 Studio Weimar, Den Haag, Holland

How would you define yourself as an artist?
"Multi disciplinary, contemporary visual artist"

Why art? How did you get involved with art?
"I grew up surrounded by artists and musicians, my father was a musician/artist my uncle artist/cartoonist/musician, so at a very young age I started drawing and painting and actually just never stopped."

What art do you most identify with?
"Contemporary art"

What does “being creative” mean to you?
"Being creative for me means pushing boundaries, exploring new ideas and ways of expression and finding new solutions to do so."

What’s the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?
"That there is never right or wrong and to never get too comfortable and push yourself to stay innovative and to the edge of the unknown."

What are you trying to communicate with your art?
"Joy and awareness."

What do you see as the strengths of your pieces, visually or conceptually?
"Visually I guess, the concept is always there but I’m sometimes not even aware until my work is finished."

What themes do you pursue?
"Cinematic storytelling"

What inspires you to work?
"New ideas and the confrontation of better art or artists."

Favorite Quote?
“Amateurs look for Inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work” (Chuck Close)

Can we talk a bit about your process at the beginning of a project? How do you conceive of it? How do you build it in your mind before you start?
"I look at everything around as raw material and imagine what else I can do with it, change its purpose and how I can apply it in a different way. Many times I have not found a purpose for it yet but I know I like it visually and store it on my mental hard drive. When I think of new project I usually have something in mind and then I scroll through my hard drive for material I can use for that and can combine with the project I want to and goal I want accomplish."

What Role does the artist have in society?
"Document time and landscape, bring joy and awareness, ask questions and make people look at things from a different perspective."

What do you think about the art community and market?
"I think because of globalization and the increase of the accessibility of information the art community is expanding as more people are confronted with art, learn about techniques and find people in other art forms to collaborate with. The benefits of this expansion are reflected in the mobility of most players in the art community and art market. Collectors, artists, art patrons and institutions are becoming more used to travel to meet in different points worldwide. This makes the message in art and art projects more engaging and more open to the public. Unfortunately, the global influence and trends in the market are still very comfortable instead of showcasing more of the underrepresented talent. The market is becoming standardized with less original work."

Should art be funded and if so why?
"Sometimes, otherwise you will only have art created with commerce in mind in order for the artist to survive making the consumer determine and then all art will be created from the demand of the markets perspective and because the buyers are not artist so then art will not get pushed and will all be the same at one point."

What famous artists have influenced you, and how?
"Piet Mondrian, Rembrandt van Rhijn, Ai Weiwei"

What other interests do you have outside of art?
"Music, Film, Surf."

You seem to be very aware of the history of works. Where do you see films, photo exhibitions, art perfomances today?
"I travel the world all year following my work, visiting fairs, shows and museum’s, so I’m fortunate to constantly see work from artists around the globe."

How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create art?
"It would become boring, colourless and stressful."

What are your next projects?

"I’m always working on many projects at the same time! TBA! "

NIGhT vision

space odyssey

NEW BOOGIE WOOGIE

NEW HORIZONs

GLOSS

FEEL THE LOVE II

blue skies

SKY HIGH

sunrays

cotedazur

SENSEs

summer ii

lick

BOTtoms up

DAY DREAMING

comic relief

too much information

NYFW

x-ray

punk'd

40 degrees

Tiffany's II

XKSS

Breakfast at tiffany's iii

Rearview

MTA

The road

The Hague, Netherlands

Art Shows & Exhibitions

interview

by Klassik Magazine