Wil van der Laan

Wil van der Laan , 1950* Roermond (Netherlands) academy for arts Maastricht (Netherlands)

Above all things, Wil van der Laan is a wanderer in search of contrasts. Equipped with an unquenchable thirst for opposites with his own environment, he is roaming the world in search of uncommon encounters. A passion which is not satisfied until he hears the blues in a juke joint somewere along the Mississippi river; a passion that is changed into a rapture when he sees an Indian dressed in a western outfit and hanging around near a well-worn filling station in Arizona. A similar thrill seizes him when he sees a member of the Massai-tribe in the African countryside. Wil van der Laan paints his scenes, often discovered in far-off places, so convincingly that you feel part of them. And they are so real because of his perfecteye for detail, color and shape.