Inner Explosions | 8 August - 4 October 2026

In Inner Explosions SmithDavidson Gallery presents a selection of works on paper by Dutch artist Matthijs Scholten. Raw, spontaneous and richly layered, these works offer an intimate view into an artistic practice driven by intuition, emotion and the constant interplay between chaos and order.

Paper holds a particular place within Scholten’s practice. When he returned to making art as an adult, he began by painting on small sheets of paper. The immediacy of the material gave him the freedom to experiment without expectation or restraint. That same sense of freedom remains visible in his works on paper today, where spontaneous gestures, bold lines and vibrant colours come together in compositions that appear instinctive yet carefully balanced.

Scholten finds inspiration in the world around him, particularly in graffiti, weathered buildings and overlooked details encountered in public space. Fragments of urban life become starting points for textures, forms and symbols, which he transforms into his own distinctive visual language. Rather than following a predetermined plan, his compositions develop intuitively, allowing abstraction and figuration to exist side by side.

Faces and eyes repeatedly emerge from these layers. Often mask-like and penetrating, they are among the most recognizable elements in Scholten’s work. For the artist, they represent awareness, identity and introspection, while simultaneously establishing a direct dialogue with the viewer. They invite us not simply to recognize an image, but to pause and respond to the emotion it evokes.

Throughout this selection of works on paper, contrasts remain central: freedom and constraint, chaos and order, vulnerability and strength. Together, they reveal the energy and immediacy at the heart of Scholten’s practice and his ongoing search for a visual language that transforms both personal experience and the turbulence of the world around him into something instinctive, expressive and distinctly his own.