2002, Wim van der Beek, art critic

The renewed interest in figurative art is probably of no concern to precision painter Kees Thijn. He has always painted in his own way and style, and this very personal style of painting suits him. He has an eye for often-queer details. Still, no matter how precisely he dedicates himself to painting recognisable objects, Kees Thijn is certainly not a realist: in his paintings the artist places recognisable images in a surrealistic or magico-realistic context.
A worm-eaten apple is kept upright by a cane or patched-up with the aid of a leather belt and other apparently useless expedients.

The effect of these strange surgical operations is that apples, eggs and other items painted by Thijn start to live and literally display human features. This metaphorical approach perfectly corresponds with the painter’s need to exceed the boundaries between appearances and reality. It is very tempting to connect the painter’s medical background with his art. Hence his analytical working method, precisely due to a fascination for wounded objects, gives him enough concrete starting points and something to get a grip on.
As a painter, Thijn almost literally places his universe of objects on the dissection table or under a magnifying glass. His style of painting seems to incline towards hyperrealism.
The turkeys, butterflies and flowers sometimes look even more realistic than they really are.
The venom lies in the unusual additions which turn the logic of the image upside down.
Melting porcelain, turkeys in a vague landscape, a still life of wounded teapots and coffeepots, a chess-playing cock, a collection of dried or half-rotted fruit, a pear with a medal of honour, the stunted growth of an apple and other illogical blemishes and deformations show that the painter takes a devilish pleasure in teasing reality. Although calling his works bizarre or absurd might be going too far, it is obvious that the artist ignores a truthful correctness of the reproductions in his paintings.