Emo Verkerk

Frank Zappa, 2025, 95 x 65 cm, oil on linnen

Over the past decades, Emo Verkerk (b. 1955, Amsterdam) has developed a singular and wide-ranging practice, one that moves between painting, drawing and sculptural assemblage, and integrates portraiture, found materials and intuitive humour. Working initially with the human face, Verkerk’s painted portraits of writers, philosophers, musicians and artists recall the conventions of likeness, yet they always carry the trace of abstraction, emotion and material experimentation. 

From 2000 onwards, Verkerk extended his practice into three-dimensional “objects”: painted assemblages made of everyday household materials, wood, metal, cardboard and recycling-elements. These works emphasise the process of creation, the layering of images and materials, and the idea that a work may never reach a final definitive form. 

Verkerk’s interest in portraits springs from fascination with particular lives and ideas: he reads biographies, studies photographs, and allows form and colour to “take on a life of their own”.  His works are described as intuitive rather than purely cerebral, and he treats his artistic practice as a method of self-investigation and becoming “a kinder, wiser human being”. 

Based in Den Helder since around 2000 (after earlier periods in Bergen, Amsterdam and the United States) he also engages with the local art scene and seeks to connect art and community: for example initiatives of accessible exhibition-spaces in public places.

Born 1955, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Currently lives and works in: Den Helder, The Netherlands

Education

Studied Philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1978: Admitted to De Ateliers ’63, Haarlem, The Netherlands

Solo Exhibitions 

2025 Hilaritas, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, NL

                       Tempo e spazio. Il ponte tra di noi, Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, IT

2021              Emo Verkerk: Why Not?, Luhring Augustine, New York, US

2015              Graag of niet / Love me or leave me, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, NL

2015              Belle van Zuylen, Willem Baars Projects, Amsterdam, NL

2000              Emo Verkerk, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, NL

1999              Nass und Trocken, Brandenburgische Kunstsammlungen, Cottbus, DE

1999             Schilderijen, aquarellen en objecten, Art & Project, Slootdorp, NL

1997             Emo Verkerk, Stadsmuseum Woerden, Woerden, NL

1988             Emo Verkerk, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL

1982             Emo Verkerk, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, US

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025             Katten en Ketters, with Kiana Girigorie, LANG, Amsterdam, NL

2022              First Choice 2022, Willem Baars Projects, Amsterdam, NL

2015‑16         Held op sokkel, Haags Historisch Museum / Museum de Gevangenpoort, The Hague, NL

2015              Wrijving van gedachten, Antwerpen‑Zundert – Het Vincent van Gogh Huis, Zundert, NL

2014              Facing Nature, Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen / Oranjewoud, NL

2011          Rob Birza, Morgan Betz, Frank Koolen, Joseph Semah en Emo Verkerk, Willem Baars Art Consultancy, Amsterdam, NL

1984             An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, MoMA, New York, US

Art Fairs

2022             Luhring Augustine at Art Basel 2022, Luhring Augustine

2021             Willem Baars Projects at PAN Amsterdam 2021, Willem Baars Projects

2020              Luhring Augustine at Frieze New York 2020, Luhring Augustine

2019              Luhring Augustine at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2019, Luhring Augustine

                       Luhring Augustine at Art Basel 2019, Luhring Augustine

2016              Willem Baars Projects at Art Rotterdam 2016, Willem Baars Projects

Art Fairs

2022             Luhring Augustine at Art Basel 2022, Luhring Augustine

2021             Willem Baars Projects at PAN Amsterdam 2021, Willem Baars Projects

2020              Luhring Augustine at Frieze New York 2020, Luhring Augustine

2019              Luhring Augustine at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2019, Luhring Augustine

                       Luhring Augustine at Art Basel 2019, Luhring Augustine

2016              Willem Baars Projects at Art Rotterdam 2016, Willem Baars Projects

Museum & Public Collections 

                 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL

Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL

          Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, NL

                 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL

                 Rijksmuseum Twente, Enschede, NL

          ABN AMRO Kunststichting, Amsterdam, NL

          Kunstcollectie KPN, The Hague, NL

          Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam, NL

          Ahold Kunst Stichting, Zaandam, NL

Awards & Grants

2025           Victoriefonds Oeuvreprijs / Lifetime Achievement Award, Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar

2010           Joanne Oostingprijs

2000           Van Duyl‑Schwartzeprijs

1981            Koninklijke Prijs voor de Vrije Schilderkunst

1980            Buning‑Brongersprijs