NSA data center, Bluffdale, Utah Painting

A former assistant of Anselm Kiefer, Jarik Jongman (Amsterdam, 1962) uses both his own photographs and anonymous pictures found at flea markets, in books, magazines and on the internet, as a starting point for his work. He studied in Arnhem and has exhibited widely, in London, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam and at the 53rd (2009) and 54th (2011) Venice Biennale in collateral events. In 2010 he won joint first prize for best artist at the UK National Open Art Competition, juried by Gavin Turk. ​​In 2012 he was shortlisted for the John Moores prize, exhibiting at the Liverpool Biennial. In 2017 he won the Luxembourg Art Prize. In his work over the years he has explored ideas concerning transience, ontology, religion and history. Many of these works involve architecture in some form: motel rooms, waiting rooms, dilapidated buildings, usually devoid of human presence, often provoking feelings of nostalgia and contemplation, sometimes adding a hint of the miraculous or super-natural. ​