REMCO

Remco is a Dutch abstract and pop-art painter who works under the name Tekenaar Schakelaar. He grew up drawing and playing on home games consoles, and his paintings bring that love of art and retro nostalgia together, offering an artistic view of beloved game and cartoon characters and the memories they hold.

His approach is spontaneous and intuitive. He works without sketches, diving directly onto the canvas and building its atmosphere in loose, energetic colour; only once the atmosphere feels right does he return to render the character in detailed linework. The result, which he describes as “messy, but precise”, sets chaotic colour against fine line.

His work is organised in personal series. #my20games pairs twenty all-time favourite games with paintings that include the original games within them, and became his first solo exhibition, at the National Videogame Museum in Zoetermeer in July 2025. MediaMadeMe, an ongoing series, revisits how stories from games, comics, film and television shaped a shy child who moved house ten times. Alongside them sits the series Pixl.Perfct.

In Remco’s words, “My paintings are a celebration of my inner child, and inner ‘nerd’.”