Wouter Paijmans

Wouter Paijmans (1991, Loon op Zand, Netherlands) lives and works in Loon op Zand. Paijmans's practice examines the visual qualities of western consumer society, in particular themes of commercial decline: the melancholy of abandoned stores, empty shop windows, sales of redundant stock, and imitation clothing. His method, which he calls "confection painting ," uses an original work as the blueprint for a series of imitations. Through repetitive copying of textile panels, he operates simultaneously as creator and producer, what he describes as "manager of his own sweatshop." The process raises a persistent question: what ultimately remains of an artist's practice when one decomposes one's own work and reproduces it over and over? The work holds a tension between the search for the aura of the original and the fact of mass-produced copies.

Paijmans studied Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam (2011–2015), he completed residencies at De Ateliers, Amsterdam (2016–2018) and AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (2018–2019).

Solo exhibitions include C van Confectie, 019, Gent (2023); Stripes and Stars (Confection Painting), De Pont, Tilburg (2020); Confection Paintings, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2019).

Group exhibitions include Royal Award for Modern Painting Exhibition, Royal Palace, Amsterdam (2023); Volkskrant Beeldende Kunstprijs, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (2020); Art Rotterdam, duo presentation with Josse Pyl, Annet Gelink Gallery, Rotterdam (2020); Im Frage, Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen (2020); The Hoodie, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam (2019); Tefaf x Bonnefantenmuseum, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht (2019); Connecting the dots, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (2019); Extension.NL, Triumph Gallery, Moscow (2018); Good Morning Midnight, De Ateliers Offspring, Amsterdam (2018); 10 Years of Thomas Eyck, Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen (2017); Hindeloopen, Palazzo Clerici, Milan (2016).

Awards and nominations include the Royal Award for Modern Painting (2023); Volkskrant Beeldende Kunstprijs nomination (2020); Werkbijdrage Jong Talent, Mondriaan Fonds (2019); Buning Brongers Prijs, winner, Arti et Amicitiae (2018); Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst nominations, Royal Palace Amsterdam (2018, 2016); De Scheffer nomination, Dordrechts Museum (2017); NN Group Art Award nomination (2017); Young Blood Award, winner, Galerie Ron Mandos (2015); GRA Awards, winner, Gerrit Rietveld Academie (2015).

Works are held in the collections of Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; AVL Mundo, Rotterdam; ABN AMRO, Amsterdam; ING, Amsterdam; Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Hague; AMC, Amsterdam; NN Group, Amsterdam; and AHOLD.