Stephan Konings is a Dutch visual artist living and working in Amsterdam. His paintings explore the relationship between visual structure and perception. He creates layered compositions in which material, form and rhythm interact in a carefully constructed visual field.

Each work begins with a central structure made using metallic paints on aluminum panels. These surfaces have a complex, organic texture that Konings develops through repeated layering and refinement. The resulting forms suggest the presence of an underlying order, without making it explicit. Viewers are invited to look attentively and respond with their own associations.

Over these textured surfaces, Konings places colored circles containing special mica pigments. These pigments change color depending on the angle of the light. This creates a dynamic visual effect that shifts as the viewer moves. The final layer of each painting is a clear epoxy coating that intensifies the color and protects the surface.

Konings works without a fixed plan. His approach is intuitive and responsive. He follows what the work itself seems to require, adjusting color, rhythm and placement in the process of making. Although the result is technically precise, it arises from direct engagement with the materials.

A central concept in his practice is apophenia: the tendency to perceive meaning or structure in what is initially experienced as random. Konings does not treat this as a psychological illusion, but as a productive mechanism. His paintings offer conditions in which the viewer becomes aware of their own pattern-seeking activity. In this way, apophenia is not the subject of the work, but the mode of its appearance.

According to Konings, beauty is the suspicion of a hidden system. When something appears to make sense, but the reason remains unclear, the viewer enters a state of heightened attention. That experience is central to his work.

Stephan Konings graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 1999. His paintings are represented by Gallery 238 and are part of private collections in the Netherlands and internationally.

More information

Interview by Walter van Teeffelen:
marbellamarbella.es – World Fine Art Professionals and Their Key Pieces
Dutch version: inzaken.eu.

Music project:
Sonic Deaf Squad – (Bandcamp)

Artikel op Inzaken (Dutch)
inzaken.eu – Schoonheid is het vermoeden van een verborgen systeem