MARIO Visual Artist

Current EXPO -

The Pallet Painting
This is not a pallet. It is a tree, cut down, assembled into an attribute for transport, and discarded after it fulfilled this purpose. Johannes is restoring its identity as a tree. Giving it back its value by returning it to the woods.

A few years ago Johannes discarded woodpallets and at one point, like a switch in the brain he did not see a pallet anymore but a composition of lines and spaces. The lines of the wooden bars are given, they have been made for him, as does the total construction. He transformed the object and emphasized the spatial differences by lifting the bars, elevating the lines, by a color composition inspired by an array of colors he sees being in the forests/woods.

Johannes Steendam might be more known for his Oilfields he has been making for over the last 10 years-abstract compositions with a strong relation to nature and landscape made with used motor oil.

Painting with Liquid History
Johannes Steendam’s Olievelden (Oil Fields) series transforms refined earth—petroleum—into profound visual experiences. By applying used motor oil to paper, Steendam captures the unique "DNA" of each engine and owner. His process is a delicate dance with chance; he provides the structure, but allows the oil’s natural viscosity and "bleeding" to finish the story. The result is a body of work that meditates on temporality, the transformation of the landscape, and the beauty found in industrial remnants.

National and international exhibitions have shown these works. Amongst: Museum Belvedere, Heerenveen, Brutus, Rotterdam, Galerie EL, Belgium, Kunstraum Heidelberg. Art the Hague, Big Art, This Artfair, and currently during at