Hi! Welcome on my site!

My name is Simone Houtman and I love to paint and to draw!  I do it for as long as I can remember.

.... in 2002 I was admitted to the to the Royal Academy of Arts in the Hague. I graduated in 2007. After my graduation I was lucky to have a studio of my own. My paintings have an atmosphere of suspense. You feel that there is something going on, or something to be happening, but what that is, is not visible. I use pictures of moments that have an attraction to me: it can be stills, pictures out magazines or photographs, or images out of my head. 

The fleetingness of the movies or moments seems to be frozen in the silence of the painting. The scenes of my paintings are mostly in the evening, because of the atmosphere. At the moment I use the following subjects in her work: empty streets, old-fashioned interiors with many views to other rooms.

Currently getting also the nature a place in my paintings. The things you see give you a clue of what’s happening or what you are looking at, but not enough to understand it all. You will see a situation, sometimes with a person in an old-fashioned interior who is doing something indefinable, or we look of a viewpoint outside through a window inside and feel us a bit a voyeur. We do not know where we are and what we see, but we always feel the present of people.

Simone Houtman, Alphen aan den Rijn

Education

2002-2007 Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, BA fine Art

Awards

Goedman paintingaward (3e) for my graduation exhibition. The jury were Abe van der Werff (advisor of the director of the Royal Academy of Art, Lon Pennock (artist), Hans Bergwerf (Winston & Newton/Col Art) en Ton Goedman (the shop Goedman of the Royal Academy of Art).

Other

Since 2011 a member of the artist organisations STA-ART of Alphen aan den Rijn.
August 2012 - July 2013 director of Kunstpunt Rijnstreek (art lending library) of Alphen aan den Rijn.
May, 2015 artist in residence in Callosa d'en Sarria, Spain.

Subsidy 2016 Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds - Tijlfonds - for exposition in Guadalest, Spain.
2006-2012 secretary of Kunstverdieping
2012-2013 director Kunstpunt: kunstuitleen Alphen aan den Rijn

Exhibitions 2006-2021

Group exhibitions

4/12 - 30/12/2021 plein air Haagse schooldag at Pulchri Studio, Lange Voorhout, Den Haag
15/9 - 21/11/2021 plein air Haagse schooldag at Galerie Rijlaarsdam, Nieuwkoop

2021 plein air Haagseschooldag Nieuwskoop at Galery Rijlaarsdam, Nieuwkoop (15/9 - 21/11/2021)
2021 CALL5 !KIJK! at Galery Waterbolk, Utrecht 
2019 plein air Haagseschooldag Nieuwskoop at Galery Rijlaarsdam, Nieuwkoop
2016/2017 groupsexpo 'CALL5' Guadalest, Spain
2016 open studio days 2016 
2015 mei 'artist in residence' Callosa d'en Sarria, Spanje
2014 July, 9  - August 9 2014: group expo 'Zomersalon' by galery STA-Art in Alphen aan den Rijn
2014 May, 10 - June, 22  2014: group expo 'Universum Achterhoek' by Galery Espace Enny in Laag Keppel
2013 December - May, 1 2014 by Galery [con]Temporary te Alphen aan den Rijn 
2012 'nieuwe leden' in STA-ART Galery in Alphen aan den Rijn
2011 'de vernieuwing' in STA-ART Galery in Alphen aan den Rijn
2011 zomerkunst duo expo in 't Reghthuys in Nieuwkoop
2010 'Enny été', Galery Espace Enny in Laag Keppel
2008 DE JAREN '00, Galery Vonkel in The Hague  
2008 'In and Out', Galery Arti-Shock in Rijswijk
2007 'Tussen figuratie en abstractie', Kunstuitleen Alphen aan den Rijn e.o.
2007 KABK graduation expo 2007 in The Hague
2006 'Doorgaand verkeer', Museum Nagele

Solo exhibitions

2017 Rabobank, Roelofarendsveen
2012 Open studio days in Kunstpunt Rijnstreek and groups exhibiton in the STA-Art gallery at Alphen aan den Rijn
2012 Schoutenhuis, Alphen aan den Rijn
2011 Open studio days in Alphen aan den Rijn and groepsexhibition in Da Vinci at Alphen aan den Rijn
2010 Open studio route Alphen aan den Rijn
2009 Open studio/exhibition at Alphen aan den Rijn
2008 Solo exhibition 'Oilpaintings' SER (Social Economic Council) at The Hague

Projects

2021 - plein air at 4 September on the event: HaagseSchoolDag in Nieuwkoop
2019 - plein air at 7 September on the event: HaagseSchoolDag in Nieuwkoop
2018 - made an online training 'see the world like an artist'
2018 - Info graphic purchasing process
2017 - Info graphics  for a Radiotherapy department
2016 - Info graphics for an IT department
2015 - illustration for a book
2014 - With Boukje van Iperen and Malou I had a galery [con]Temporay from December 2013 to mid May 2014 in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

Collections

Sociaal Economische Raad (SER) te Den Haag
private collections