Sef Berkers
April 1 - April 21, 2023
Reception: Thursday, April 6, 2023, 6-8 PM
Inquire View Catalog Buy on ARTmineThe traveler is to Sef Berkers as honey is to the bee. The Dutch artist illustrates people on the go with loose outlines of humanistic forms featuring stark and colorful accents. Berkers has ventured to train stations in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, and it is these ports of transportation that have served as inspiration for his subjects. Oil on paper and acrylic on paper tell of these exclusive perceptions. Berkers is an avid traveler, with various trips throughout Europe, Egypt, and India igniting his artistic vision and encouraging him to change practice. “To experience different cultures is important for me,” he says. In 1993, the artist began crafting solely in black and white: East-Indian ink with a reed pen, felt tip pen, and roller pen as some of his tools for production. Inclusions of color and usage of oil paint came into play after Berkers brought back color pigments from a visit to India. Uniquely, all of his works are also numbered, the first work dating back to December 17, 1993. With over 97,500 pieces in his archive, Berkers hopes to achieve 100,000 by December 17 of 2023–30 years from the start of the devoted collection, building a record of his life as one work of art.
Berkers also finds inspirations in film and music–the latter in which he dabbles regularly. He resides in Venlo, The Netherlands, and teaches painting lessons both privately and at a local cultural center.