Blackheath artist Jose de Koster has had a long and colourful life. Born in East Sumatra, he spent most of his teenage years in a prisoner of war camp under the Japanese occupation. Following the war he rebuilt his starved physique to become an Olympic standard swimmer and water polo player. He moved to New Zealand and inspired by the examples of Gaugin, Picasso & Van Gogh, began to paint.

In 1966 he moved to Australia and eventually took up residence in the Blue Mountains. One of the mainsprings of Jose's character is an insatiable desire to express himself. He is known to his friends as a humorist and a torrential raconteur and over the years he has branched out into other art forms, poetry, prose, acting, while continuing to paint on a daily basis.

During the 90's Jose was a major player in local arts organizations, The Cultural Development Group and the Blue Mountains Arts Council, leading up to the '96 declaration of the Blue Mountains as the Inaugural City of the Arts.

A major retrospective of Jose's work was held at the Nolan on Lovel Gallery, Katoomba. With over 30 works, mostly oils, the subjects include portraits, landscapes and nudes, painted with a ferocity of attack and vividness of colour reminiscent of Vlaminck, Derain or some of the Fauves at their best. With paintings of this kind, based on an intense emotional response to the environment, involving a rush of physical energy, the task is to find a container of colour and design that holds the whole thing together and prevents it falling into complete chaos.

In this Jose de Koster succeeds admirably, having devised over the years his own symbols and colour harmonies, often reminiscent of European landscapes and the place of his birth. An artist may be painting at Govetts Leap, but he still contains his life history, and much of this emerges in these powerful works.