Fransje Killaars

Colour is the all-encompassing subject in the work of Fransje Killaars (1959). In the 1980s, 1990s, she used fluorescent colours in her paintings that to the eye left an afterimage on the white wall. Colour thus stepped outside the frame of the painting into space. Triggered by this phenomenon, she started exploring how she could leave the flat surface of the canvas and extend her work into another medium. In India, she discovered the possibilities of textiles at a traditional weaving mill. From then on, Fransje Killaars started making installations with textiles, giving colour a haven where art touches upon design, architecture and fashion.

From 1984, she was also assistant to Sol LeWitt and worked with MVRDV architects on a proposal for the UN building in New York. In 2003, a textile artwork by Killaars was realised in the Herenkamer of the Catshuis, residency of the Dutch prime minister. Issey Miyake discovered her art in 2004 and invited her for a collaboration and to exhibit her installations.

Textiles have protective and comfortable qualities, making the viewer feel enveloped and protected in the work thus immersing him/her in the effect of colour. Fransje Killaars’ installations have a strong autonomous quality but also address social and political themes that are touched upon without making them explicit

The work Toko (2000-2023), which was show in the exhibition Between Borders at Museum Arnhem NL in 2023, refers to the fate of refugees. The political crisis in 2000 in Kosovo causing a large number of displaced people inspired Fransje Killaars to make the work. It consists of a huge tarpaulin with four colour strips in yellow and green hanging from wall to wall. On it lies her so-called alphabet, consisting of materials such as bags filled with wool, hand-woven carpets and fabrics.