Paul Strik (1943 – 2018), lived in the south of the Netherlands, where he worked as an independent architect and urban planner for 25 years. He was regionally successful and received the first prize from the International Academy of Architecture at the sixth World Biennale of Architecture of 1991, held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Paul Strik had a great passion for architecture and for contemporary arts, and started painting in the early 1980´s. His work is colorful, figurative and has an affinity with multi-cultural expression and performance. His subjects mostly relate to relationships between people with themes such as solidarity, security and freedom. Always looking for simplicity and clear forms, Paul Strik paradoxically mastered concepts such as freedom, individuality and space, as well as the art of making bunnies from napkins. Birds and butterflies symbolize an aspiration for freedom. His works often contain images of people with masks and mirrors, which refer to escapism of modern society and self-righteousness of its people.

The apparent cheerfulness that the canvases emit does not always cover the intent. "Everyone is entitled to his own relationship with a work of art and I prefer to have the artwork speak for themselves", says Paul Strik. Strik sees his art as a way of communicating and finds in himself a tremendous urge to create, which resulted in hundreds of created artworks, mainly oil on canvas.