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At first glance, you wouldn't say so, but Wouter Nijland's work hangs together from coincidences. Literally. Just like daily life, his main source of inspiration. The artist himself determines only the boundary conditions of his canvases, such as format and grid. After that, he leaves all space to chance. The angle of inclination of a line? For that, a handle is placed in a black bucket of marbles, numbered from 1 to 360 with an engraving pen. Is a plane colored in? A tossed coin, bouncing across the floor of his studio, determines it: yes or no. And if the verdict is “yes,” it remains to be decided whether that filling in will be done with horizontal or vertical brushstrokes. Again, a coin makes the judgment. Coincidence also plays a role in his use of color. He uses about ten different colors of oil paint, all of which he mixes to black. By eye, by the light that enters his studio at that moment. No black is the same; it depends, for example, on the base color, the brush strokes, the thickness of the application and the weather outside. Each surface has its unique shade and the black ensures that the viewer is not distracted by emotions and associations that distinct colors simply evoke.

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