SDG 9 : Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Cyriel Marijnissen (1984) grew up in Vierakker, a tiny village in the East of The Netherlands. From a young age, he had a passion for art, poetry and music. At the age of seventeen, he started at ArtEZ Arnhem, but did not feel at home in the art academy world. He switched to music and studied songwriting at Fontys University of the Arts in Tilburg.
After his studies, Cyriel has a carreer behind the scenes in the media and entertainment industry, where he manages wellknown Dutch artists. However, the urge to paint continued never left his soul so at the age of 40, he decided to devote himself entirely to his art.
His work is characterized by a graphic style with strong color contrasts. Expressive and cartoonish at the same time, with visible spontaneous derailments that he creatively masks. Fragments of text, like music samples, provide extra depth. He works with thick layers of paint, oil pastel and everyday materials such as ballpoint pen and ink. Cyriel is inspired by Tracey Emin, Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo and modern African painting. His goal: to attack the canvas without a sketch and spread a story that reflects the zeitgeist: “No time to waste.”