I’m a Dutch-Argentine artist (born in the Netherlands, 1962) painting contemporary realist and hyperrealist still lifes. I seek to capture the fascinating interactions between colors, light, shadows, textures and reflections, and unite them in visual poetry.

Highly inspired by the still lifes of the Dutch Golden Age, I depict a variety of subject matter striving for an elegant, timeless yet contemporary look. Over time I’ve adapted classical skill-based methods to suit painting in acrylics. After four decades as a professional artist, I’ve developed a highly recognizable signature style, especially in regards to composition and creative content.

My paintings are based on symbolism which conveys my thoughts about life through metaphors and symbolic meaning universally ascribed to my subject matter. This symbolism—representing higher ideals, such as wisdom, awareness, and growth—may not be immediately obvious, yet I believe these messages reach the consciousness of those open to them. 

During my forty + year career my artwork has received many prestigious awards, and has been exhibited in well over 150 gallery and 30 museum exhibitions in fifteen countries, namely Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Five of my bronze statues enjoy permanent public installation in Wassenaar, the Netherlands.

I’m Founding Member of the International Guild of Realism (IGOR), Signature Member and Member at Large of the International Society of Acrylic Painters (ISAP), and Honorary Member of the National Acrylic Painters’ Association (NAPA) of the UK.

My artwork has been widely published in US and international art magazines, including Southwest Art, International Artist Magazine, American Art Collector, The Guide Artists, Revista Ophelia, The Artist Magazine, PoetsArtists Magazine, and Artists & Illustrators.

My paintings can be found in several museum catalogs, including The Reality of Things: Trompe l’Oeil in America (published by the Vero Beach Museum of Art), We Are Food (published by Museum Jan Cunen), Arte y Libertad XII (published by Galería Artelibre), Painting Today / Pintando Hoy (published by the MEAM, the European Museum of Modern Art), Mímesis (published by the MEAM), and 25º Aniversario Galería Artelibre (published by the MEAM).

My sculptures were published in the Dutch book entitled Beeldend Wassenaar, and my illustrations appeared in the children’s book entitled Artikel 12* published by the Center for Peace in Belgium. 

My paintings have been included in Lexi Sundell’s book Acrylic Artist's Guide to Exceptional Colour, Rhéni Tauchid's book Acrylic Painting Mediums & Methods, and the new edition of the Encyclopedia of Acrylic Painting Techniques (Quarto Publishing).

My paintings are represented by Plus One Gallery, in London, UK, Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, in Binghamton, US, and the Simie Maryles Gallery, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, US. 

Further reading

The Reanimation of the Still Life

The still life is a time-honored tradition and one that is reinvigorated for a modern age in the copiously talented hands of Lorena Kloosterboer. After a career spanning almost four decades she has become internationally recognized for her technical mastery as well as elegant compositions which convey a nuanced narrative through the subtlety of their symbolism.

Born in the Netherlands and currently practicing in Antwerp, Belgium, Lorena Kloosterboer spent time during her youth visiting maternal grandparents in Argentina. Initially interested in pursuing a career in fashion design, at nineteen she found herself studying fine arts in Buenos Aires where she came to realize that, for her, art was going to be more than a mere pastime and would become a lifelong passion. There she initially trained in classical methods but she considers herself largely self-taught and meticulous technique would become a hallmark of her distinctive style. Lorena identifies as a Dutch Latina and asserts that she is “an amalgamation of both cultures; a combination of the open-minded rationality of the Dutch and the expressive flamboyance of the Argentines.”

This dualist heritage is perhaps uncoincidentally related to the evolution of the Dutch still life itself. Among the Protestants of the north, the Dutch were disinclined to Catholic iconography which many felt to be perilously close to idolatry. Hence, Protestant Dutch painting would tend to migrate toward a realism in subject matter as well as style. Among the prosperous merchant class a market emerged for paintings of inanimate compositions and naturalist landscapes which were seemingly immune from heretical temptations. These still life paintings would tend to be rendered with obsessive clarity of detail whereas the Flemish landscapes tended to be painted more expressively with a careful observation but a looser brushwork. While there is no hard and fast distinction between Dutch and Flemish painting, there is evidence of an amalgamation of individual cultural priorities.

This preference for inanimate subject matter did not, however, necessarily indicate an absence of iconography or simply literal depictions devoid of narrative meaning. From its inception, the Dutch still life was loaded with a dualistic symbolic subtext. A sumptuously laid table might invoke fecundity and the presence of opulent silverware, crystal, or porcelain might indicate prosperity. The specific material accoutrements might also reflect a fascination with the exotic or with the latest in technologies to domestically reproduce objects from throughout the world. Within a Calvinist context, aspirations of prosperity might also indicate the material rewards for a life of diligence and deferred gratification. But the inclusion of perishable items, like picked fruits and cut flowers, were a reminder of the transience of life and impending mortality. Indeed, the memento mori, or the reminder of death, invoked both aspects of carpe diem; the precious gift of life must be enjoyed but without forgetting the ostensible eternal consequences of the choices one made in how that life was lived. According to this worldview, beauty and pleasure were to be gratefully appreciated but mere materialistic hedonism was to be discouraged.

Lorena Kloosterboer’s paintings likewise fall within this Dutch narrative tradition and are rich in symbolism that celebrates life, beauty, fecundity, and the exotic while also being cognizant of the importance of history and the unique optics of place. In one of her works, she includes distinctive green glass Berkemeyer goblets recalling their appearance in 17th century Dutch paintings by her predecessors. Also featured are gloriously ornate cloisonné boxes meticulously rendered so as to do justice to the exquisite craft with which they were originally fabricated. The inclusion of these antiques affords Kloosterboer’s paintings a timeless quality yet she chooses to render them on sparse backgrounds which place them in a distinctly contemporary context. Although clearly aware of history, this artist’s work manages to avoid trite nostalgia which plagues so many others who fail to distinguish between establishing a reverence for the past without descending into reactively fetishizing it. A painting by Kloosterboer cannot be mistaken for an antique as her optic is so obviously of the current era.

If there is one motif for which Lorena Kloosterboer is justly famous it is her recurrent obsession with blue and white porcelain. It ubiquitously features throughout her oeuvre and many of the pieces come from her extensive personal collection. Holland is rightly celebrated for its blue and white Delftware so it should be no surprise to find it in the work of so many Dutch artists throughout the years. But for centuries, the production of these ceramic pieces remained quite the technological mystery. The enigmas were twofold: first, how to make the paste for such fine porcelain and, second, how to achieve the deep blues and lustrous glazes? These technologies had remained a Chinese trade secret and even today fine porcelain is often colloquially referred to as “china.” Initially, such blue and white porcelain was a highly prized import commodity and could only be afforded by the wealthiest collectors. As a nation of traders, the Dutch became the primary source for imported porcelain throughout Europe and many prospered quite handsomely from this commerce. But that profit highly incentivized industrial espionage, experimentation, and reverse engineering until finally it was apparently recreated in 1708 by an alchemist in Meissen, Germany. Called “Delftware” after its primary European source, blue and white porcelain would become highly sought after and continues to be up to the present.

In a Kloosterboer still life the appearance of so-called “Delftware” serves multiple purposes: the obvious being that its beauty, its lustrous reflectivity, and its elegant forms all provide a delight to the eye and lends itself to demonstrating the clarity of the artist’s exceptional rendering technique. It is also a historical reference to geographic place and an indicator of cultural identity. But for this artist in particular, it inherently carries psychological subconscious narrative. According to Kloosterboer: “Blue is the color of the sky and sea—associated with open spaces, depth, and stability. The color blue embodies freedom, intuition, imagination, luxuriousness, inspiration, and sensitivity. It also symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, and truth.” That’s a lot of meaning to be carried by a single color but there is a reason that blue is the signature color for an artist whose own priorities can be so explicitly embodied by this very personal choice.

Regardless of their color, the choice of vessels in Kloosterboer’s paintings carry a subtextual meaning for the artist. A vase may be an archetypal representation of a container of the primordial Life Source; it may stand for acceptance and abundance of the heart. The very clay from which it is made symbolizes transformation as it embodies the perfect synergy of earth, fire, water and air. For this artist, a teacup is the vessel holding harmony, peace, and spiritual enlightenment. A bejeweled egg-shaped Fabergé box may represent the cycle of life. Every detail in one of her paintings invokes a set of transcendent concepts and is carefully chosen for its meaning to her. While the iconographic code may be ineffable to the average viewer, the psychological inferences can nonetheless be drawn at a subconscious level.

In her series Tempus ad Requiem, Kloosterboer animates the tradition of the nature morte by adding living birds to her compositions. This pictorial development allows for an interesting juxtaposition between cold, hard, shiny surfaces and warm, fragile, organic textures. It also affords the artist a narrative opportunity to explore the conservatory priorities of safeguarding both cultural and natural heritages.

Birds have been considered omens since time immemorial and their presence is no less portentous when they appear in this artist’s work. The bluebird is a harbinger of happiness. The pigeon symbolizes strong connections to house and home, and the importance of the strength and support found in the community. Lovebirds symbolize love, long-term commitment, and as spiritual totems they represent insight, positivity, and wisdom. Similarly, the mandarin duck is believed to mate for life and therefore symbolizes romantic bliss and fidelity. Perhaps more ominously, the crow enjoys complementary symbolism—on the one hand it’s associated with the mysterious magic of spiritual guidance, while on the other hand, it’s the archetype of the mischievous trickster. Both these representations are related to the gift of perception, personal transformation, flexibility, and fearlessness.

No discussion of the works of Lorena Kloosterboer would be complete without an acknowledgment of her outstanding technical virtuosity as a painter. She literally wrote the book on acrylic painting technique—Painting in Acrylics: The Indispensable Guide—and perhaps no other painter has created in this difficult medium what she has managed to achieve. Her powers of observation are remarkable and are only matched by her extraordinary facility to render in explicit detail. It is not only her exceptional draftsmanship but her exuberant yet disciplined use of color in the context of the most elegant compositions that really sets her work apart. This is a painter with something substantial on her mind who also possesses the formidable skills required to bring her eloquent narrative to life on the canvas.

Kloosterboer has brought the entire fine art arsenal to bear to create a body of work that is a tour de force of skilled representationalism. Her oeuvre is historically aware yet still unmistakably contemporary. Its sophistication looks deceptively simple and allows for the work to be easily comprehensible. She stands on the shoulders of giants but is not content to rest there as she brings innovation to a genre of painting that might have remained dead in the hands of a lesser artist. Whether one is merely an amateur viewer or the most cynical connoisseur, one will find both edification and delight in the works of Lorena Kloosterboer.

Joseph Bravo

Curator, Art Historian, Art Critic

Written November 2022 - Foreword in Tempus ad Requiem - The Book