The Orientation Trip

m.simons presents the second solo exhibition of Joost Krijnen at the gallery. Following his previous presentation, Krijnen returns with an exhibition devoted entirely to works on paper.

Drawing plays a central role in Joost Krijnen’s practice. His works emerge from a direct engagement with line, form and material, with the image often appearing to develop through the process itself. Krijnen moves between the recognisable and the abstract, between a concrete point of departure and an image that ultimately resists a single interpretation. Paper provides a space that is both open and contained: every intervention remains visible, and every line becomes part of the history of the work.

Krijnen’s drawings possess an immediacy that can conceal their complexity. At first glance, they may appear light, playful or simple, but on closer inspection they unfold as carefully constructed compositions in which rhythm, repetition, interruption and shifts play an important role. The artist’s hand remains continually present. Not as an illustration of a preconceived idea, but as a means through which the image comes into being.

Joost Krijnen (Breda, 1983) lives and works in Amsterdam. He studied Fine Arts at AKV | St. Joost in Breda (2003–2007) and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (2013–2014). In 2015, he received both the Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst and De Scheffer Prize. Recent solo exhibitions include Choir of Nonsense at m.simons, Amsterdam (2024), Joost Krijnen at Galerie Mirko Mayer, Cologne (2017), and Paper Thoughts and Gravity at FORMATOCOMODO, Madrid (2017). Recent group exhibitions include The Promise of Life at the Nederlands Steendrukmuseum, Valkenswaard (2025), Octopus’ Garden at SBK Amsterdam (2025), and Liefde voor Tekenen at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (2024). His work is held in collections including the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum Schiedam; Schunck*, Heerlen; Dordrechts Museum; and Albert Heijn, Zaandam.