ABOUT THE ARTIST:

​

Born and raised in Amsterdam (1959), she grew up as the youngest child in a large "noisy" working-class family by the canal in the then impoverished Kinkerbuurt (Da Costakade). From a young age, she visited the Stedelijk and Rijksmuseum many times with her school and her mother. For a long time, the desire to learn to draw and paint remained unfulfilled. In 1974, her parents, and thus also Debbie, exchanged Amsterdam for (West) Brabant. After some fashion drawing courses in the late seventies, it would take until 1993 before she started taking lessons at a cultural center. From that moment on, all brakes were released. Debbie took lessons in various techniques with different teachers three to four times a week for 16 years in a row. Ultimately, in 2008, the training at the Kunstacademie IKO Hoogstraten for 5 years of Higher Degree Painting became inevitable, and in 2012, it was a successfully completed gift to herself. Additionally, she is the author of the book "Divorce: 'it' can go strange." Debbie remarried Peter den Haan in 2016, and together they are proud of her two adult children, Romy and Lars.

​

2018 was the year of A B S O L U T, her grandly celebrated 25th anniversary and retrospective exhibition at the Stadsgalerij Breda.

​

In Debbie's work, it is mainly about the paint, even more than the subject itself. She paints quite monumentally and expressionistically. Since 2008, she has increasingly focused on social themes and enjoys working on a subject for a longer period, always in series. She loves strong lighting and contrasts and does not want to pursue romance in her images. This often happens through the frequent complete or partial painting over of underlying cliché images, showing the raw and harsh side of life. Debbie's works are often flamboyant, which lies in the dimensions of the paintings as well as the generous palette, the touch, and the subject. She works partly linearly, partly pictorially in all possible ratios, often starting from composite images and has a direct way of working.

​

Art, according to her, may rub, provoke, raise questions, provoke discussions, and have humor with or without a message. Enthusiasm, curiosity, contrariness, passion, and also a great sense of perspective can be found in Debbie's work and are important components in painting.

​

"I have nothing to do with all those sensitive painter souls; if the work is rubbish, you have to dare to face that, and a colleague with objective knowledge whom you trust sometimes has to tell you that. If it is nothing, it is nothing, no lamentable feelings. Paint that stuff away and attack again," says Debbie.

​

Important inspirations include Francisco Goya, James Ensor, Peter Paul Rubens, Johannes Grützke, Per Kirkeby, Neo Rauch, and Pablo Picasso. These masterful teachers are often important components for the theatrical, dramatic, humorous, grotesque, frightening, current, and technical aspects of her work.

​

Education:

2008-2013: Kunstacademie Hoogstraten Belgium higher degree painting

2005-2007: Cultural Sciences Open University

2003-2009: Model drawing

1998-2010: Painting with various artists in Chartreuse / La Valotte / Lormes (France)

1994-1997: Various communication training at Stichting Communicatie in Breda

1993-2009: Drawing and painting lessons Cultural center Doornbos Etten-Leur

Exhibitions:

27-10 to 31-11 2021: Debbie Nijland ~ The Myths, Stadsgalerij, Breda (planned)

26-09 to 27-09-2020: Exhibition Bisschopsmolenstraat 10, Etten-Leur

12-09 to 13-09 2020: Faith, Hope, and Love for The Art, Municipality of Moerdijk

18-05 to 19-05 2019: Art Route Zundert

31-10 to 04-11 2018: Debbie Nijland ~ A B S O L U T, Stadsgalerij, Breda

08-09 to 16-09 2018: Art & Culture Route Moerdijk

19-05 to 20-05 2018: Art Route Zundert

29-03 to 10-04 2018: Art Gallery Hondsdamme, Damme (B)

16-11 to 27-01-2018: Red Light District, Galerie Serena, Zevenbergen

11-11 to 12-11-2017: National Art Days, Nieuwegein

04-11 to 05-11-2017: National Studio Weekend

09-09 to 17-09-2017: Art & Culture Route Moerdijk

26-05 to 20-08-2017: Summer Expo 'Water', Galerie de Vis, Harlingen

20-05 to 21-05-2017: Art Route Zundert

05-11 to 06-11-2016: National Studio Weekend

11-04 to 11-05 2016: Renaissance, 60 years IKO Hoogstraten (B)

11-07 to 20-09 2015: Summer Expo 'Wild', Municipal Museum The Hague

26-06 to 28-06 2015: Exhibition Stadsgalerij, Breda

12-04 to 20-04 2014: Art Collective EXPOZES, Het Withof, Etten-Leur

15-06 to 15-09 2013: Exhibition Kroonestede, Hoeven

27-10 to 04-11 2007: Exhibition with Silvie Krens, De Gaerde, Wouwse Plantage

09-09 to 16-09 2006: Exhibition, Doornbos, Etten-Leur