Nick Ouwehand paints on different materials such as canvas, wood, cardboard and other found surfaces. The materiality of the surface is important to him, occasionally taking on a central role. Much of his recent work deals with the loss of contact with nature, particularly with animals. His paintings show perverse attempts at regaining this contact, with animals returning in dream states as a result of their absence from waking life.

We adore animals and want to keep them close, yet destroy them on an unprecedented scale. Ouwehand’s paintings explore the dissolution of the boundaries between dream and reality, symbol and signifier, ask what it is we truly love: the living animal, or the image we have made of it.