Krijn de Koning
The work of Krijn de Koning often has a disruptive character. With his works, the artist breaks through the conditioned way of looking and makes you see a space, or an object, from a totally different perspective.
Krijn de Koning is a Dutch artist whose work deals with the question of how we experience architectural space. He creates site-specific work that questions the characteristics of its location. His works are more than spatial interventions and are best described as a mix of sculpture, painting, and architecture. De Koning wants people to look at their environment from a different perspective. He disrupts our line of sight by blocking it or by creating new sight lines.
"I want to break through conditioned viewing by reinforcing or accentuating elements in a space."
De Koning's art is not just a spatial intervention; his work can best be described as a mix between installation art, painting and architecture. For edition # 8, he transforms a famous Amsterdam landmark with light.
Upon asking what inspires him, he answers: "Place and time in general. Recently a lot of architecture too." Considering the nature of his artworks, that doesn't come as a surprise. In unexpected places, Krijn de Koning adds brightly colored chipboard partitions: to a facade, in the middle of a staircase or in the middle of a pathway, for example. And that is precisely the intention of de Koning: to offer a new view of a building or space to an audience. In 2010 he transformed the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and in 2011 he made an installation for Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes.
Photo: Visitors see 'de Nieuwe Kerk' from a different viewpoint thanks to the transformation by Krijn de Koning.
The places he likes to visit to refresh his perspective? De Koning: "In Amsterdam, I like to visit 'Onze Lieve Heer Op Zolder' Museum, a small church on the top floor of a canal house. And the Malevich paintings in the Stedelijk, of course."
Artist Krijn de Koning (1963, NL) interrupts environments by adding sculptural, architectural, and colorful constructions to inspiring locations. His work emphasizes the environment and gives the audience new possibilities to use and interpret the place. Works within de Koning's oeuvre vary from minuscule to very large and contain classic references up to absurd expressions.