Unnecesairy to mention, but in case it wasn’t clear: my name is Kaj Derks.
Born in Nijmegen, Netherlands on Januari 25th 1984.
I grew up in a nearby town called Grave where my father runs a paintingcompany that went from father to son since 1846. All my life I’ve been around paint, color and it’s functional use as protection for other materials or a signal that either shows the tradition in which a certain object is build or that you should pay attention to specific qualities of a situation. From an early age I helped at the company in the summers and doing so I got very familiar with paint. I could maybe even say that I have paint running thru my veins.
In highschool nothing looked like I would become an artist. I excelled in biology and chemistry so I expected to study something concerning these topics but because of my very poor math I could subribe to neither one. Because I didn’t want to force a choice for a study, I left the country to do a year of highschool in the US, Salida, Colorado to be precise. There I’d spend so much time in the art-class that the idea of studying art popped up in my mind naturally. And so I did when I got back to the Netherlands.
From that moment it took me six years to graduate but it wasn’t until after 4 years that I decided to make paintings and nothing but that, well maybe a little photography because of another personal interest.The reason was that I wanted to make art and the best material to use is the material you are most familiar with. This, and the fact that when I think of ‘art’ I immediatly imagine a painting, made me decide to connect to the rich tradition of painters that is present in the Netherlands and in the history of art in general.
My goal is not to find new ways but to find out how far this way, thru painting, can reach.