Wessel Huisman

Wessel Huisman graduated in 1981 from Radboud University in Nijmegen – department of economics and social history. He completed his education at ArtEz in 1984 and became managing director of ArtEz in the same year, a position he held until 2006. Since then, Wessel has devoted himself fully to his full-time career as an artist.

In Wessel Huisman’s work everything revolves around light, dynamics, balance and clarity. From his earliest childhood he has registered and saved light situations. Wessel named his paintings after the light he once observed. As he himself says, he walks with a ‘light archive’ in his head, he can trace light well and provide a date and time. He usually bases this on a memory ‘then and then it may have been that light’. For example, the sound of the days of the week, the sound of the months, years, and numbers have acquired a ‘light value’ over time. The light on Friday is different from Monday afternoon; February light has a different emotional value than March or June light. In this way he ‘illuminates’ a certain city, he lets familiar elements light up, but however recognizable, however strong the suggestion of detail, it is up to the viewer to finish the painting by linking his own associations and memories to it.

Wessel Huisman enjoys international fame with permanent galleries in Florence, Shanghai and Miami.