Stoel’s work is known for his thoughtful yet spontaneous and playful approach towards his artistry and surroundings. He uses several media including painting, sculpture, installation, photography and textiles. For him, foolishness plays a special role in our lives and we must not take it too seriously, otherwise it may be unbearable. Because of that, to see things with irony sometimes is important.However, irony may not take too great a part in living. When we apply irony to everything in life and work there is the danger of losing honesty and misleading ourselves as to how things truly are. Luckily Stoel saw that coming and therefore chose to paint landscapes. Landscape has no mask, no other meaning than being what it is. He was happy not always having to be funny. It’s a sincere and honest way of seeing and dealing with things. This also helped him to take life more seriously.

From 2005, when Mari Stoel was in his 20s, he decided to change course from the conceptual approach, for which he’s still well known, and started to dedicate his artistry fully to painting. He chooses to paint (en plein air) landscapes, something he always felt attracted to, the most neutral subject and always around us. In contrast with making a film, a photo, an installation or sculpture, which take a very long time and huge energy of thinking, re-thinking and making, Stoel looked for a quick result and physical kind of energy. Feeling the sunburn and sweat, smelling the paint and turpentine, the painter was shaking because of the physical effort he was putting in. After finally finding his spot, he had to find an inner peace and rest in order to start painting. A bit like van Gogh did.

史鐸早期的作品充滿幽默與悲劇感。為了傳達他的觀念，他使用多種複合媒材，包括雕塑、攝影、繪畫、織品、裝置。在他看來，愚昧在我們的日常生活中扮演特殊的角色，但千萬別將它看得太重，否則生活會變得令人難以忍受；因此，用調侃的態度看待生活中的事物有時很重要。

2005年，二十多歲的史鐸決定徹底改變他至今仍廣為人知的概念方法，而完全投入繪畫中。他選擇以自然為對象，這是他一向喜愛的主題，不僅是最中性的、無處不在，更是他最愛的導師。相較於觀念藝術需要長時間的思索、再思索，他發現，在戶外作畫，感受身體的疲憊與曬傷，聞著顏料與松節油的氣味，找到內在的平靜，並在那裡休憩一會兒，然後開始作畫，勞動即有所得。這樣的過程有點像梵高，也令他感到踏實。

幾個時期裡，史鐸畫的不僅是他所看到的，還有他的「熱情」，藉由他個人對營造張力和氛圍的獨特才華，使之成為一種有形的體驗。他的作品賦有強烈的個人色彩，通過直接和富有表現力的繪畫方式，以及主題的可識別性，顯示出與過去的表現主義畫家密切的關係。

隨著時間的推移，馬里總是回到他所謂的「源頭」——一個沒有概念的地方，只有他周圍的環境和直接的感知。本展覽中呈現了史鐸早期與近年的作品，橫跨了他創作生涯的十五年，可以看出他從具象逐漸轉向抽象的過程，和運用色彩的卓越能力。大多數畫作都是在馮德爾公園完成的，這個大公園離他在阿姆斯特丹的住處很近，史鐸熟悉公園裡的每一棵樹和每個角落，他過去幾乎每天都在公園裡走來走去。

出生於阿姆斯特丹西邊的哈萊姆，成長於北荷蘭弗里斯蘭鄉間的史鐸，父親與弟弟都是藝術家，這令他對「畫畫」這件事愛恨交織。他想與父親建立聯繫，體驗繪畫曾經帶給父親的感受，接受它，享受它，並開創自己的風格。