Nemo Jantzen

Who is Nemo Jantzen?

Nemo Jantzen is a Dutch contemporary artist renowned for his approach to hyperrealism, pop culture, and narrative-driven art. Born in 1970 in The Hague, at an early age Jantzen was immersed in uncle's studio, Johnn Bakker—a comic artist celebrated at the Pep magazine. This experience created an early fixation for visual storytelling, graphic design, and 1960s pop culture.

How did nemo jantzen begin his career?

After studying art, design, and photography at Rotterdam’s RTO Art Academy, Jantzen worked as a billboard painter and creative director in Antwerp. Translating cinematic stories into monumental hand-painted visuals taught him how gesture, color, and scale convey emotion. This period laid the foundation for his signature hyperrealist style, which fuses meticulous detail with narrative depth.

Hyperrealist Paintings

Jantzen’s early works often drew from pop culture, advertising, and photojournalism, isolating objects or cinematic stills from their contexts to create striking visual dialogues. His hyperrealist narrative paintings explore the collective consciousness, blending photography and cinematography to evoke iconic imagery embedded in memory. Recognizable for their vivid colors, rich textures, and dynamic compositions.

Thread-and-Nail Sculptures

Expanding beyond traditional painting, Jantzen introduced his acclaimed thread-and-nail sculptures. By placing hundreds of stainless steel nails on a wooden board and connecting them with continuous thread guided by photographic references, he creates three-dimensional, photo-realistic works. These pieces shift with light and perspective, offering collectors an immersive and tactile experience unlike conventional artworks.

What is Nemo Jantzen’s Domes series?

Jantzen’s Domes series represents a pinnacle of his innovative practice. Using thousands of photographs, cinematographic stills, and collected media encapsulated within glass spheres, each piece simultaneously reveals and conceals its subject. This Neo-Pointillist-inspired technique challenges viewers’ perceptions, creating multi-layered narratives that reflect contemporary memory, media saturation, and the human experience. Since its debut, the Domes series has garnered immediate acclaim from collectors, cementing Jantzen’s reputation as a visionary in contemporary art.

International Recognition and Collections

Over a career spanning more than two decades, Nemo Jantzen’s work has been exhibited in leading galleries and art fairs worldwide, including New York, Miami, London, Amsterdam, and Singapore. His pieces are held in prestigious collections and institutions such as the GEM Museum (Netherlands), Museum POPA (Switzerland), Mandarin Oriental New York, and private collections of collectors including Kobe Bryant, Claudia Schiffer, and Ronnie Wood.

Collectors are drawn to Jantzen’s work for its fusion of technical mastery, narrative depth, and contemporary cultural relevance. From hyperrealist paintings to immersive thread-and-nail sculptures and the groundbreaking Domes series, his art offers an unparalleled experience of visual storytelling, memory, and media commentary—making every piece a compelling addition to discerning private collections and public institutions alike.