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This painter's work has been etched in our minds for some 35 years. Goudzwaard is a painter pur sang. Nothing and no one can sway him from his path. An artist/painter who has always followed his own plan, averse to trends and hypes. He has been represented by Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp for many years.
 We are proud to be able to showcase Goudzwaard with this exhibition, which features both recent paintings and older works. Kees Goudzwaard is a thoughtful creator of compositions on linen.
 Goudzwaard shifts paper, pieces of paper, scraps and different types of tape across the surface until the composition matches what the painter sees in his mind. He meticulously transfers that composition onto the canvas. Goudzwaard is, as he himself says, searching for an immaterial treasure. ‘The paint replaces the thin layers of paper’. This is not trompe l'oeil. It is rather a pure form of realism. The concentration almost bursts off the canvas. A painting by Goudzwaard always reveals new information and new insights when you look at it closely. Regardless of all conceivable art-philosophical considerations about Goudzwaard's work, the constant “continuation of the painting in your head” with every glance is an inexplicable quality.
Goudzwaard always makes a model (maquette) before he makes a painting. In this model, he slowly builds with paper, coloured sheets, transparent foil, scraps and adhesive tape. He searches, things are searched for, laid down, moved and revised. Then all the layers are converted into paint on the canvas. Kees himself says: “I use the model to make a painting and the painting to capture the model. In fact, I create the same image twice with a different intention. In the first process, I am searching. And in the second process, while I am painting, I am consolidating what I have found, then I confirm the choices I made in the first place.”
We (Collection DE.GROEN) have several works by Kees in our collection. Works from different periods. One of his works in the collection is from the beginning of his career (1990). A large round canvas with a “sky” full of small coloured dots. It is a remarkable painting that reveals the potential of his later work.
We have both known Kees for a long time. The period after his time at art school was when we got to know him best.
As a screen printer, Peter worked with Kees on various projects in the screen printing workshop. He experienced Kees's working methods at close quarters.
Marjolein initiated an art commission for the Rijnstate hospital, for which Kees created a beautiful work (a conference table and an oval painting). Kees and Marjolein were also involved for several years in an artists' initiative with an exhibition space, where they both held various exhibitions.
In 2017, we were able to add the impressive work “Panorama” to our collection. It has proved to be an important work for us. It is one of the works that is looked at for a long time during our guided tours. It seems as if Kees' concentration is transferred to the viewer's way of looking. It is a work that reveals itself very slowly. You see the viewer searching and discovering.
Kees says: 'I try to slow down the gaze. I try to persuade everyone to look as long as possible by being careful. By keeping the structure of my paintings simple and elementary, they are easy for the viewer to project themselves into. But I also like to let some structures intertwine. Then you can turn viewing into a kind of reading game. Space and time are connected, so if you are consciously defining space in your work, you are also consciously orchestrating time.'
Creating solo exhibitions is very important to us. The artist decides and does not have to go along with the curator's narrative. It is the space and freedom in which only the artist and his works give meaning. Because we have been following Kees for so long, it was not a question of whether but when we would do a solo exhibition with him. Now the time has come.
After several visits to each other and intensive discussions, the plan is beginning to unfold. Brand new paintings will be shown alongside works from earlier periods.  In addition to oil paintings on canvas, there will also be smaller works on cardboard (acrylic) and, alongside all that, a wall-filling work of riso prints. This wall-filling work provides the increase in scale and change of perspective that Kees was looking for.
In this new year, we are taking the time to build the exhibition together. To look, move things around and decide, again and again, until all the works and the whole are in the right place.
When quoting Kees Goudzwaard, we have used the article “The viewer must become a little complicit.” Visiting Kees Goudzwaard's studio. By Tom Van Imschoot & Ritsart Gobyn (Published by Grafische Cel (ISBN 9789492574213)