Peter Heij - Westlake (Mixed media)

Westlake 3. A lake near Hanoi.
From the series of photo paintings Figures/Gestalten. Mixed media with photography. An intervention in the realistic representation of the photo with oil paint.

Figures/Gestalten. A series of 'portraits' with images of the outside world that form the inner world.

Peter Heij, Utrecht 1960. Lives and works in the Auvergne, Puy de Dôme, France. Completed the Royal Academy of Art and Design (akv | St Joost) in Den Bosch, specializing in painting (1982-1987). During this period, and afterwards, he worked figuratively, expressively and even abstractly, continuing in 1991 with realism, which he had initially started with in his youth.
Themes and subjects concern man and identity in relation to the environment (series Figures/Gestalten), landscapes with reconstructions of the past (Lostlands) or skyscapes as an attempt to capture and shape the intangible (Skyscapes). More recent are the landscapes with traces of the inhabitants (Santa Fe footpaths) or faces as sketches of memories (Faces).
The Photo Paintings intervene in the realistic representation of the photo with paint or another technique. Through this intervention, the recorded and stilled reality is changed, questioned and relativized.

The focus is on elevation above and alienation from everyday reality without losing sight of reality in order to find other or perhaps new insights and awareness.

Group exhibitions took place at, among others;
Nel art, Cape Town, ZA; Exhibitions with selections from the gallery (2020) and Summer Salons (2021 and 2022). Curated by Luan Nel. Selection of circular Skyscapes and series Gestalten/Figures.
The Orange Water Contemporary Art Festival 4, Greece. Theme; Reflections of Origin. EAP (Hellenic Open University) -School of Applied Arts, Patras. 2018; Netherlands Institute Athens (NIA). Curator Apostolis Zolotakis. A selection of oil works series Gestalten/Figures. (2018-2019).
UFOFABRIK Contemporary Art Gallery (Moena, Italy); PAT Pavia Art Talent, Pavia, Italy. Art Thessaloniki Contemporary art fair, Thessaloniki, Greece. ArtNordic International ArtFair, Lokomotivværkstedet, Copenhagen, Denmark. Hybrid Art Fair, Madrid, Spain. Wide selection including series Gestalten/Figures, and photo-paintings (2018).
Galerie Sous-Terre/Flower Art Museum, Aalsmeer. Exhibition 'Unity in diversity'. Selection of photo paintings Flowers (2018).
Galerie Lauswolt, Olterterp, Friesland. End of year exhibition with a varied selection (2017/8).
United States of Arts, Salon West Art Gallery, Amsterdam. Selection from the series Gestalten/Figures (2017).
Art Shopping, Salon d'art Contemporain International, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris. Queen Art Studio Gallery, Padova, Italy. Selection from the series Faces (2017).
Artproject 40×40, Galerie Tuur, Venlo. Theme; 'SKIN'. Photo painting Figures (2016).
The Orange Water Contemporary Art Festival 2015 and 2016, Greece. Theme; Memory Landscape, at SAF (Santorini Arts Factory), Netherlands Institute Athens, the Loft (Athens), Agios Athanasios (Naousa), and Megaron Lefkon (Lefkes, Paros). Selection from the Lostlands series.
Gallery 'S', Amsterdam. Exhibition 'Men Exhibiting'. Photo paintings Figures and 'Dallas, Texas' series oil on canvas (2015).
Gallery number 1, Paris. Exhibition 'Love etc...' with Photopaintings Figures (2015).
Gallery number 1, Paris. Exhibition 'Ambiance Vénitienne' with Photopaintings Figures (2014).
The Netherlands Institute Athens (NIA) showed the exhibition 'Familiar-Unfamiliar', by curator Apostolis Zolotakis. A selection of 28 works from the Photopaintings and Photopaintings Gestalten/Figures (2014).
At CAMP, Athens, the exhibition 'Ground Zero' with Photoworks Gestalten/Figures. And with GaleriaZero in Berlin with Faces (2014).
Gallery Peter Leen, Breukelen. Theme 20x20 cm., with Faces (2013/4).
The UFOFABRIK Contemporary Art Gallery (Moena, Italy) with Photopaintings at G@P Gallerys at Paratissima 9, Art Games & The Others Art Fair, Turin, Italy and the Vienna Showcase, Schönborn Palace, Vienna (2013).
ReCulture 2 / 2013, 2nd International Visual Art Festival of Patras, and ChaniArt 2013, Visual Arts Journeys in the Prefecture of Chania, Neorio Moro, Crete, Greece showed the exhibition 'Familiar-Unfamiliar', curated by Apostolis Zolotakis. A selection of 28 works from the Photopaintings and Photopaintings Figures/Gestalten (2013).
Gallery Alex Solodov Contemporary Art, online exhibition 'Abandoned Europe'. Series Faces.
Cheapart Amsterdam 2012 with a selection from the series Photo Paintings.
Alan Barnes Fine Art, exhibition 'Atelier 2012′, Dallas, Texas, USA. Series Santa Fe footpaths.
LekArt 2012, theme InsideOut. Gallery 'S', Amsterdam, theme 'Contrasts' (2011).
At the University of Pennsylvania, Fox Gallery, Graduate Humanities Forum, Philadelphia, USA with the theme; In the Beginning, Exploring Origins in Contemporary Art (painting Lost Land IX) (2008). Nyenrode Castle/Galerie Peter Leen, Breukelen /Gemeentehuis Maarsen (2007) and at 8Q Global Mobile Exhibition Show Your Hope, Stg. 80 Questions (traveling from 2007).

Solo exhibitions took place at Galerie Stam, Amsterdam, with a complete overview of the Lostlands series (2008). Galerie Acculade, Amsterdam IJburg, where the similarity between older and recent work was shown on the basis of the theme Inner and Outer World (2008). The Gestalten/Figures series was shown in the Sint Antoniesbreestraat, commissioned by the art committee of Wijkcentrum d' Oude Stadt/Stadsdeel Amsterdam Centrum (2005).

Relevant travels have included the USA (including 2003/9/12/17), Italy (1973-2010), Vietnam (2001), Sri Lanka (1999), Thailand (1995/6) and Indonesia (1994/1997).