Johanna Van Parijs
With her background as an intuitive healer, Flemish artist, Johanna Van Parijs, employs geometry, repetition, and graphically powerful palettes to produce works of art that convey energy states to her viewers. Some of her work, like her labyrinths, have a stabilizing, grounding energy, while others uplift and unlock creative potential. By using found wood from her immediate surroundings, her pieces embody the essence of her Costa Rican environment. From conceptual sketches to polished final pieces, Johanna’s process is both meditative and meticulous—transforming raw materials into art that is deeply personal yet universally resonant.
“Labyrinth” at over 8 feet tall, employs rough hewn strips of wood some of which are burned to a dramatic deep black and others that maintain a desaturated, natural hue, all with visible wood grain patterns. The symbolism of the labyrinth has played an important role in Van Parijs’ work since she began working with wood over five years ago. To the artist, this mysterious and ancient symbol embodies fear and hope, the primary emotions she felt as she stepped into her new life as a single mother in Costa Rica and took a leap of faith in her art practice.
“This artwork conveys great dynamism, but remains deeply structured and ordered. It is the interface between order and chaos, movement and stasis, light and darkness, height and depth, masculine and feminine - corresponding to a cosmic vision, for our cosmos is comprised of subtly interwoven polarities.”
Van Parijs studied three-dimensional art at LUCA school of Arts in Ghent, Belgium and received her MFA in video-art. During this time, she explored depth, layers, texture and mixed media, and began exploiting these attributes in her work in order to make her art “feel alive.”
Years later, while living as a single mother in her adopted home of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, her focus shifted from oil painting and collage to working in wood. While manipulating wood on a large scale, she discovered that the extreme physical effort required of her, produced work with a sense of intentional energy and thrust that her earlier work had been lacking. In 2019 she opened her first workshop devoted to creating custom wood sculpture and unique home furnishings.
Van Parisj's sculptural wood panels, constructed on an impressive scale, are now highly sought after on the international market, and she regularly produces monumental wall installations for architectural homes with the assistance of a team of local artisans.
In addition to her wood workshop, she maintains a design studio and art gallery in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, where she lives with her partner and two children.
Featured Works
