Zantman’s colorful and expressive art is strongly inspired by the intensity and the beauty of the colors in Bali’s nature. He has spent a lot of time in the kampongs of the northern part of the island, painting his series of daily village life and of the sawahs, demonstrating his strong connection to this beautiful island. Bridges Bali supports the John Fawcett Foundation Yayasan Kemanusiaan by donating 20% of the proceeds of the exhibition.
Theo Zantman was born in 1953 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Already at the early age of three years he began to draw and sketch. Wherever he went in those early years, wallpaper was never safe from him. In elementary school he took every chance he got to draw, and at that stage he already succeeded in earning some money by making portraits.
In 1987 Zantman started visiting Indonesia. Especially the island of Bali seemed to put a spell on him. The intensity and the beauty of the colors of Bali's nature inspired him strongly, and still do. In 2001 he felt the urge to start painting on location, to practice the plein-air method that made the Dutch master painter Vincent van Gogh so famous. Since then, Zantman has spent a lot of his time in the kampongs of Northern Bali, working at his Daily Village Life-series. And typically, the older he grows, the more expressive the character of his paintings become.
Zantman's art works are greatly influenced by Vincent van Gogh. When asked, Zantman admitted to feeling a strong connection with the late impressionist master painter. The series of Kampong paintings which Zantman made in Singaraja were painted in the same manner - though with his own typical style - as those characterizing the work of the old Dutch master: both based on the plein-air method.
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