Amsterdam Art Week | Henri Jacobs, Marijn van Kreij, Emma Talbot, Derk Thijs, Toon Verhoef

Henri Jacobs (b. Zandoerle, NL, 1960) combines detailed craftsmanship with an open and playful exploration of form and meaning. His recent interest in weaving has deepened his understanding of complex patterns. He weaves with coloured paper, pre-made drawings, prints, and book pages. By weaving together works such as Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus and Albrecht Dürer’s Melencolia I, he creates what he calls a ‘Bastard Angel.’

Marijn van Kreij (b. Middelrode, NL, 1978) explores the themes of appropriation and repetition. He reinterprets both iconic and lesser-known artworks, drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources, including well-known works of art, illustrations from children’s books, and elements of popular culture.

Emma Talbot (b. Stourbridge, UK, 1969) draws to express her subconscious, where countless impressions are stored. With her fluid drawing style, in which text, images, and patterns come together naturally, she invites the viewer to follow her thoughts on current pressing issues, including feminism, capitalism, technology, and our interaction with nature. In 2021, she began creating animations of her drawings, such as You Are Not The Center (Inside the Animal Mind), 2025.

In Derk Thijs’ (b. Amsterdam, NL, 1977) broad view of the world, everything can coexist. What matters is the way in which he combines everything into a single entity. The result is often deceptively simple. This is primarily because Thijs ignores the laws of perspective and seems to introduce little to no hierarchy in his paintings. In the watercolours Thijs created of his kitchen at home, everything appears to blend together.

Aimless thoughts, experiments, ideas, but without preconceived intentions: this is what the sketches of Toon Verhoef (b. Voorburg, NL, 1946) represent. Cautiously, hesitantly, yet at the same time in a direct and spontaneous manner, Verhoef builds a new image time and again. Always seeking balance, only to disrupt it. He pushes himself to a limit, stretching the visual tension in order to create unexpected images that are on the verge of falling apart.