Sander Reijgers

Sander Reijgers was born in 1977 in Alphen aan de Rijn, the Netherlands, and obtained his Bachelor of Fine Art degree at the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2006. In 2014 he graduated as a Teacher of Fine Art. In addition to his work as an autonomous artist, he teaches Visual Education at a secondary school.

Time as Matter – On the Work of Sander Reijgers

The paintings of Sander Reijgers are the result of long, layered processes in which time becomes tangible. Over the course of years, the artist works on a single surface—without a predetermined plan—allowing each brushstroke, leftover bit of paint, and painterly gesture to accumulate in the increasingly dense skin of the work. What emerges is not an image of a moment, but an accumulation of presence—a diary in paint.

The studio serves as a space of ongoing notation: impulses are recorded, painted over, resumed, and recontextualized. In this practice, paint is not merely a medium but an archive—carrying traces, memories, and rhythms of labor. Gradually, the paintings evolve into sculptural objects in which the past is materially embedded.

Rather than offering linear narratives or figurative representations, Reijgers works present a concentrated form of time storage. What we see is not what happened, but that something happened—and that it remained. In this sense, the works are not representations, but residues of a prolonged physical and mental presence.

FR / Les peintures de Sander Reijgers sont le résultat de longs processus de superposition au cours desquels le temps devient tangible. Au fil des années, l’artiste travaille sur une seule surface, sans plan prédéfini, permettant à chaque coup de pinceau, éclat de peinture et geste pictural de s’accumuler dans la surface épaissie de l’oeuvre. Ce qui émerge n’est pas l’image d’un instant, mais une accumulation du présent - un journal intime en peinture.