
“Women is what fascinates me most, I am captivated by their beauty and also intrigued by their strength and resilience during hardship and other setbacks.”
Wilgo Vijfhoven studied at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy in Suriname and at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica. Wilgo spent many years teaching at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy and currently works for the directorate of Culture.
In his art he is often preoccupied with the subject that most fascinates him: women. He is captivated by their beauty, but he is also intrigued by the strength and resilience of women during hardship and other setbacks. Vijfhoven prefers to paint women naked, because as an artist he is awed by the beauty of the female form. His work occasionally includes certain types of fruit that subtly mirror the female form. He does not paint a perfect realistic likeness, but has developed his own unique style of subtle silhouettes and outlines. He allows the natural flow of his watered down acrylic paint to inspire the forms and compositions on his canvas.
His sensual subjects are done predominantly in striking red against a bright yellow background, occasionally contrasted with bright greens or blues. Upon careful inspection, other artfully disguised elements such as fish or birds can also be detected amongst the clever compositions of Vijfhoven.
Since 2018 Wilgo has also been using the technique of pyrography (wood burning) to create various types of artistic images on wood and wooden objects.