Fondation CAB Saint-Paul de Vence is pleased to present its eleventh artist in residence, José Heerkens, from January 1 to February 28, 2026.
Especially during the preparations for my solo exhibition Colour – Free and Connected at the Kröller-Müller Museum from January 21st to July 2nd, 2023, it became to me clearer than ever how deeply my existence is intertwined with my work. Painting, like life, is a process of walking, of giving shape step by step. I even believe that this visualization is one of the most important things an artist has to offer. Each painting is a step on a long journey.
Painting is a process of seeing, intuitive thinking, feeling, searching, and knowing, and all of this comes together in the act of making: form, colour, and line, dimensions and sizes, materials.
My work is non-objective, non-narrative. Hundreds of choices are made, in which every detail and every shade of colour is important. In the interplay of all these elements, I search for a space where intimacy and expansiveness, movement and stillness, heaviness and lightness are present.
In this process, defining colour as space became my main theme. The lines create rhythm and form: both horizontal and vertical lines are essential. The essential verticality is more subtly present, while the horizontal line pulls the painting sideways, into a horizontal space.
Both, materiality and colour of the pure linen are equally integral to my paintings. The unpainted spaces in the painting are like pauses in a piece of music, catching my breath.
I work on several concepts simultaneously. A concept can continue for years. Concept Evensong began in 2015 and ran until 2020. The Pilgrimage concept, in various sizes and materials, has been running since 2017. The theme of walking, with titles such as Walking Lines, ZIGZAG steps, A Blue Walk, and Five Colour Walk, I am working on since 2011. Diagonal Space launched in 2022.
