MADART Magzines article

Sometimes the best encounters arise unexpectedly. On the advice of my relations manager - a whiz at her job, but not an art expert - got in touch with Roelof Munnik. After a series of energetic live performances, it was time for him to do a solo show. When he showed me his work, I immediately knew: this is special. Abstract, uncompromising and with splendid color combinations. His canvases don't scream for attention, they grab it.

Roelof is self-taught, shaped by nature, his love for music and his fascination with people. Everything that touches him, he translates into paint strokes. No contrived concept, no theoretical framework - but intuition, action and feeling. "My art is me," he says. And you can feel it.

His style balances between neo-expressionism and abstraction. Roelof does not capture literal images, but the echo of a memory, the aftermath of an encounter, the energy of a night. His works often emerge in the days after a party, during travels or at moments when life feels momentarily raw and unfiltered. Then the lines flow out of his body, naturally.

What touches me in Roelof's work is that personal urgency. His canvases reflects the soul, of who we are without the facades we so readily put on in everyday life. "want to preserve the mystery of life," he says. And with this collection, he invites us to do the same. Let go of knowing, shed your masks and immerse yourself in the unknown •