KVdL Art: Patrick Koster – The Complaint of an Icarus

Since 10 October you can admire the work of artist Patrick Koster in our office: The Complaint of an Icarus. Go to our home page for an impression of the work. You will rarely come across an artist who has been working in his studio for some twenty years, but has almost never shown this work. On the contrary, artists often tend to show their still immature works a bit too soon. It’s also special that in those years a solid and consistent oeuvre has come to life, which can hardly be compared to the work of other artists. Still, Patrick Koster is not a hermit. He is a man of the world who manages a karate school, goes to exhibitions, reads a lot, and collects statues and stories from the big world around us as shown in the newspapers. He does not watch TV. Patrick composes his own images from the maps and scrapbooks full of remarkable newspaper photographs that we take for granted all too easily. First, he makes a sketch, in pencil, then he cuts and glues until he likes what he sees. Next, he enlarges the sketch by hand and ‘paints’ with layers of coloured, transparent film. His paint brushes are knifes and scissors. This adhesive plastic somewhat resembles the stickers he liked as a child and used to stick all over the place. Pioneering, he has developed a completely original working method. What motivates him are big problems in society concerning good and evil. The misspent youths who cause so much sorrow with their acts of despair or well-organized violent crime. Sometimes the images are derived from works from art history in which killers are depicted as heroes in war scenes. The large triptych in our restaurant entitled ‘Icarus’ represents the rescue operation of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 17 days in 2010 and who were eventually hoisted up one by one in a capsule. From the darkness into the light. The works are unbelievably well composed, crystal clear and still exciting, touching upon big issues without being authoritative. The works offer all kinds of experiences and let you enjoy the refined use of colour.