Rick Nederlof

I was born on the island of Java in Indonesia and moved to Holland when I was eleven. My parents were of Dutch-Indonesian heritage. Art in general, drawing and painting have always been there from the very beginning, since we had three generations of painters in our family. I came to the U.S. at age sixteen, attended high school and got my BFA degree at the California College of the Arts, followed by a two year stint for Uncle Sam as a graphic artist. There were many times when I was forced to wear different hats to make ends meet, such as Illustrator/designer, art/creative director, but in th...

I was born on the island of Java in Indonesia and moved to Holland when I was eleven. My parents were of Dutch-Indonesian heritage. Art in general, drawing and painting have always been there from the very beginning, since we had three generations of painters in our family. I came to the U.S. at age sixteen, attended high school and got my BFA degree at the California College of the Arts, followed by a two year stint for Uncle Sam as a graphic artist. There were many times when I was forced to wear different hats to make ends meet, such as Illustrator/designer, art/creative director, but in the end I always came back to my first love, moving paint around.

The work that you see, changes in style and vision, were done over a great many years. I'm happy to say that steady progress was made on all fronts. It seems to have taken forever to break the "rules" of my academic training. I'm pleased, but never content and always amazed and excited when new barriers are broken.

I absorb and process the phenomena of my physical and spiritual world and use this as a point of departure to express my personal vision. Usually a painting is nearly finished or well on its way in my head before I lay out my pallet. I like to work fast, trying to catch the essence, while maintaining a sense of freshness and spontaneity, allowing for the unexpected as well as the predictable. Always I strive to catch the mood and hopefully share that with my viewers.