Nickolaas Ischmar Cornelus Koos Willems (b. 1989) is a Dutch artist. Working in a unique manner, within the representational field, Willems uses the primitive medium of wood and fire to burn and scrape his imagery into existence. A technique, in which large wooden panels serve as a canvas, heat and sandpaper as a brush of paint.

Having studied at the ArtEZ contemporary Art Academy and graduated from the private Classical Art Academy for Painters in Groningen (NL), he combines these two educations to form and shape his inner thoughts and images into art pieces. Important craftsman fundamentals about anatomy, composition and perspective are the foundation of an expression of feelings.

Central themes like transience and desolation, but also a sense of wonder have roughly described his oeuvre so far. “A lot of my work is about impermanence — that circle between life, death, and new life. This concept is empowered by the technique I use: wood and fire. The living and the perished.” (Fine Art Connoisseur Feb 19 – Full article here)

After being marked as a Young Emerging Talent by the art gallery De Twee Pauwen in the Hague,  and several (group) exhibitions later, his pieces have found their way to  prestigious art collections of contemporary art collectors in European cities such as Berlin and London.

After a series of exhibitions in China (Shaanxi Province Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art Xi`an) in the late fall of 2019, his artworks are since 2022 also part of the new permanent collection of the Xi`an Qujian Yin Art Museum.

“Linger just a little bit too long at one place and all is lost. The patience of a saint, full concentration and a burning love, that’s what it’s all about.”

– Artist Ruud de Rode about Willems work