In 2019, artist Mai van Oers (1953) was part of the jury of the Special Award, a four-yearly prize for Outsider Art. Mai has a great love for these artists, who have little or no contact with the mainstream art world. She is amazed at how the world of "Insider Art” and that of Outsider Art remain separate. Together with Galerie Fleur & Wouter, the idea arose to exhibit her work alongside her favourite participants of the Special Award. For Galerie Fleur & Wouter, the exhibition is a way to introduce this special art to their young audience.

"It is the great impact on the viewer that makes this art so good. Just like in music, there is a direct line to the heart and emotion of the viewer."

Mai van Oers

Available artworks

The exhibition features a combination of media. Heinze van Dijken (1987) shows totems, which he makes from rolls of clay. As an example he looks for an image that he finds exciting - of women and girls or people with striking clothes or make-up, such as clowns and comic characters. Different totems can be seen in the gallery, such as the Suske-en-Wiske totem and the rocket totem - which is actually an aeroplane, but became more of a rocket because it had to be a totem. Jan Benecke (1990) also works with ceramics, creating imaginative, often fragile constructions inspired by animals and human figures. His sculptures are irresistible in their simplicity. In a special way, he uses glazing on some parts of his sculptures where it has the most effect.

The textile sculptures of Maurits Sterkenburg (1987) once started with a thread that he found in his pocket. He played with it and through the knots a little creature arose. Nowadays he makes large works inspired by animals in a wide range of colours and techniques. He calls them colosaics: colossi coloured as in a mosaic.

Thomas Verlaek (1990) won the Special Award with drawings that he cuts out and sticks on top of each other. In this way he creates collages with great depth. They are self-created scenes from films with a lot of action and violence. They give the viewer a claustrophobic feeling, as if you are part of the scene yourself and cannot move. These works form a nice contrast with the sensitive and poetic drawings of Ab Stiva (1953), which radiate an enormous tranquillity. He places plants and animals carefully side by side on the paper.

Bea Schonewille (1959) makes tapestries with the special technique of the mola, in which organic forms are cut out of textile and hemmed. Because of her handicap Bea is almost always lying down. In the car she only sees the sky, treetops and high-voltage pylons. These pylons and their special interplay of lines are her source of inspiration.

Mai van Oers' oeuvre consists of drawings and paintings, in itself not an unusual combination, until you see the works. They are two totally different worlds, the almost abstract paintings and the often very realistic drawings. What they have in common is the landscape as a theme and her perfect mastery of technique. Her paintings are worlds in themselves - simultaneously recognisable and alienating. They balance on a thin line between figuration and abstraction. Mai uses a wide range of painting techniques. Her drawings are worlds in which familiar elements combined form an alienating image. Cathedrals, tombs, fairytale figures and animals live in environments full of structures, which sometimes can be traced back to reality and sometimes follow their own logic.

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Special Art