All artwork & photographs in this gallery are the original artworks of Jan Willem van Swigchem. copyright 2012
NOTE The Fine Art America (FAA) watermark does not show up on prints. If you like his art work it is very much appreciated if you vote for it!
Images are not in the public domain and are registered and copyrighted to Jan Willem van Swigchem. Any attempt to copy, display, manipulate, sell, distribute or in any way disseminate any image from this site without written permission from the copyright holder is strictly prohibited by all national and international laws, treaties and agreements ...unless accompanied by a written sales and/or licensing agreement issued by
Jan Willem van Swigchem
The artist is a so called autodidact, It is in his nature to create, so to speak 'a natural creative '.
Since 1985 he works as a professional artist. His artworks are in numereous privat & corporate collections all over the world.
I accept (digital)commissions/assignments, so called illustration on demand but only with complete artistic freedom
Several of his works are: Abstract landscapes and miniature paintings (5x5 cm).
In the 1980ties he made line drawings in ink. These are the first works in which he divides the surface of the canvas in an abstract way. They form the preparatory training for his later paper reliefs and paper templates.
In the 1990 ties he made a series of mixed media, titled 'Mysterious Traces'. In fact they are travelogues in the form of painted vertical panels and a variety of used materials that he processed and transformed, like metal, glass, cotton, copper, 'found objects', carton and paper.
In the 90ties he also experimented with glass; monumental constructions, based on physical laws of pressure and counter-pressure. These are piles of flat glass-strips that keep themselves in an ingenious balance.
Starting the mid-eighties up till now he works on paperreliefs and paper templates; the main material in which the artist can express his ideas the best.
For the Paper Reliefs:
He is inspired by nature & natural forms, and focussed on ways of perception. The structure of all sorts of elements that we can perceive,
form the basis of the way he divides the surface of his work. He plays with scales and proportions. For example, when walking on the beach and looking at an object like a shell, one can see the shell as a wonderful little tableau. But one can also take the object and look either inwards or outwards. One can imagine being tiny, standing on the shell and looking outwards to the big landscape around him. Or one can look at the shell itself as through a microscope and scan the construction of the surface.
Van Swigchem plays with the perception of perspective. He composes different elements of a typical form and plays with the rhythmic game of lines, always moving, when the spectator looks at it, thoroughly and from different sides. That and the knowledge that light makes us see, make the paperreliefs intriguing works of art. Hidden layers reveal themselves and seem to appear by the changing light, changing also the 'outcome' of the works, giving it new forms and new life again and again. On his website www.perspectivecart.nl you will be able to learn more.
Starting the nineties he develloped as well a truly unique style in digital art. His designs, his artwork do have, although it's computer made,
a soul, a touch & feel. He became a master in fine, to very fine detail, so called substance expression. When looking at the digital artwork more and more details reveals. As well as by the old masters in painting, light in his artwork plays an important role.
As photographer he is focussed on his major source of inspiration, nature, in all its appearances and forms.
The key, the core of his photographs: light, shadow, perspective, pattern, texture, structure & composition
Jan Willem Van Swigchem joined Pixels.com Licensing on January 30th, 2012.
