The Artist

‘Ronald Soeliman standing in front of painting no.8 (Grey, Orange on Maroon), 1960 of Mark Rothko.’

SHOWS

Ronald Soeliman exhibits his art on a regular basis in the Netherlands. Furthermore, his art has been on show in Germany on multiple occasions. See ‘shows’

ABOUT

Ronald Soeliman was born in Suriname in 1965 and has Javanese ancestors. The Soeliman family moved to the Netherlands in 1975. Ronald works and lives in Zuidlaarderveen, which is located in the province of Drenthe, since 1999. The unique landscape of Drenthe continues to inspire Ronald and thus the artist can often be found painting ‘en plein air’ in the countryside.

Ronald Soeliman paints on a regular basis abroad. Family holidays to the French regions of the Provence, Cevennes, Ardeche and Dordogne provide him with the opportunity to paint elsewhere. Nowadays Ronald also travels solo or is part of a group of artists who travel to the French regions of the Côte d’Azur and Burgundy.

A modern driven painter who shows and feels the real experience of the landscape, dunes and sea

INSPIRATION

Beside the heaths of Drenthe, sand drifts and farmlands Ronald also enjoys painting the dunes and the sea. He absorbs the pure essence of these landscapes and uses this in his atelier to work on new paintings. Capturing the moment is essential in his work.

Ronald Soeliman started his career as a still life painter. As the years progressed he continued painting still lives, but these were rarely exhibited. Nowadays, Ronald’s still lives find their way to the galleries on a regular basis.

Furthermore, Ronald also paints commissioned portraits and murals.

Ronald Soeliman’s paintings have been compared with the work of Impressionists like Claude Monet and also with the paintings of William Turner and Vincent van Gogh. Ronald’s body of work is praised due to the light and atmosphere he is able to convey in his work through his use of color and his brushstrokes.

WORKING METHOD
'Waterspiegel(3)', 40 x 40 cm, olieverf op masonite Ronald soeliman uses palette knives when painting. The oil paints are thickly applied to the canvas whereby the use of a palette knife gives extra textural feel to the surface. Sometimes he uses palette knives to suggest small branches in the wet paint. Often it seems as if he models the paint straight on the canvas itself. His signature is etched in the paintings as well.

Ronald Soeliman enjoys experimenting with size, materials, brushstrokes and themes. Nowadays, he sometimes starts working on painting projects that have been sitting in his atelier for years. By revisiting old works that he was unsatisfied with he continues to develop his painting skills.

USE OF COLORS AND BRUSHSTROKES
Ronald’s use of color can be labeled as intense. By using color vibration he is able to create depth on a two dimensional surface. It is in his nature to not leave anything to chance. Every brushstroke is applied with tremendous care in order to strengthen the atmosphere he wants to create. His brushstrokes and use of color are very deliberate so light can become the center of attention in his landscapes.

Ronald Soeliman’s palette of choice consist of bright colors. Up close it seems like an illogical mixture of colors on the canvas, but when observing from a distance one can be amazed by how recognizable landscapes start to appear.

During the first stages of painting Ronald spends many hours organizing his palette, mixing the colors and determining the values of his paint mixtures. The right color mixtures are of upmost importance in order to create a symphony in color and make these colors vibrate on canvas. After the mixing stage is completed the mixtures are used to create a harmonious and illusionistic landscape. The brushstrokes has to be clearly visible in order to depict the essence of the landscape he tries to depict.

Paint can be paint, honest in its appearance and recognizable as material. atmosphere, emotion, smell, light and heat might be percieved as abstract concepts, but to Ronald they are essential when it comes to painting.