BOOTS

Opening: Saturday April 18th, from 5 - 8 pm
Location: KIOSK, Willem de Zwijgerlaan 327

Merijn Kavelaars (1985, The Netherlands) has spent years working across painting and installation, developing a practice grounded in intuition and accumulation. His work moves through spaces, streets and surfaces, often guided by impulse and an open attitude. After a long period of living and working in temporary places, he has recently established a studio back in his roots in Waalre. This shift towards permanence has allowed him to turn more inward, returning to the landscape of his childhood and continuing a process of working through and reshaping early experiences.

Boots begins beneath the surface. Objects, fragments and memories from Kavelaars’ childhood are placed under a blank canvas, forming an intimate and deeply personal foundation. Hand clayed ceramic boots, a plastic car, bow and arrow, and other toys and remnants of his early life are assembled below. They remain largely out of sight, yet determine what follows; the painting becomes a map of memory.

This approach originated during a residency in Mexico. In Tepoztlán, surrounded by nature, Kavelaars was overcome of his childhood and relationship to his mother. There, he began experimenting with placing materials directly on the ground, using the landscape itself as a base from which the work could take shape, an experience that marked a step towards abstraction.

Once the foundation is set, the canvas is draped over it and the process begins. Acrylic, spray paint, water, and airbrush move across the surface, guided by the contours beneath. The method is immediate and embraces unpredictability. Kavelaars steers chance by balancing intervention with surrender, allowing the materials to find their own paths. Paint flows, spreads, and settles, reflecting a fluid mode of thinking in which gestures remain open and adaptive.

Moments of memory, conversation and emotional urgency feed directly into the work. The paintings emerge through a continuous negotiation between what is hidden and what appears, between intention and release.

The invitation for Boots features Kavelaars’ childhood painting of a cat. Kavelaars recalls imagining his life as a feline: roaming freely, taking leaps and always landing on his feet, trusting instinct and balance. This logic runs through the exhibition; a willingness to dig deep and let go, to trust the act and move freely. The works in Boots remain open, layered and in motion, each part of an ongoing mapping where material, memory and gesture meet.

From 22 April onwards, NMAG KIOSK is open Wednesday - Saturday from 12 - 17hr until 16 May 2026, or by appointment.