Public Art Forum: 12-1pm: Wednesday 14 October Exhibition Preview: New Wall Paintings and New Works on Paper 4.00pm: Thursday 15 October

Jan van der Ploeg works at the interface of minimalist painting and architectural intervention to reinterpret the legacy of the artists and architects associated with the Netherlands-based De Stijl movement (1917 – 1931).  De Stijl translates as “the style” in Dutch and was intended as a universal visual language that spoke to an expansive view of art imbued with the ideals of spiritual harmony. 

Van der Ploeg’s large-scale site responsive wall paintings and paintings on canvas energetically extends on those iconic earlier experiments. His practice is centered on the idea that, at its origins, painting comprises a relatively limited language – one of form, colour, historical precedent – and that by obeying certain rules, complex intuitions can be expressed, and a distinctive order created.

Alongside the Ramp Gallery exhibition he has designed a mural, WALL PAINTING No.579 for the outside wall of the new contemporary art studios carried out in collaboration with akonga (students) of Te Kura Pāpāho: Wintec School of Media Arts.

Jan graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam and Croydon College of Art in London and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In 1990 Jan van der Ploeg has been awarded the Royal Award for Modern Painting.  He exhibited his work extensively in both solo and group exhibitions in Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.