Redmer Hoekstra, the hacker of reality
A true pirate of our perceptibility, Redmer Hoekstra has fun alienating the everyday objects that he draws, giving them a brand new aesthetic and allegorical meaning. The young Dutch artist’s reveries – not so surrealistic after all – have already earned him many prizes and exhibitions since his graduation from the Zwolle Academy of Art in 2009. An insight into Redmer Hoekstra’s view of the world.
Hi Redmer! Can you tell us how your metamorphosed world came to be?
As a child, I already had vivid imagination, and at the Art academy I was able to re-drill from that well. I see similarities between nature and the human world, often in how things work or the way they look. That inspires me to combine the two, in such a way that it appears to be a real and living thing/animal.
Your interest for the workings of the cosmos started very young. How do your illustrations enable you to answer these existential questions?
I don’t think there are definitive answers, only temporal answers. At the moment I believe this, the next moment something else. I don’t think my illustrations really answer any questions, more like the opposite.
What’s your creative process?
I have to be in a stress free state and environment, then the images and ideas arrive by themselves. Often during travelling (preferably by train).
Most of your drawings have a totally natural aspect to them. Why choose to do something so realistic?
To fool the mind of the observer into believing it’s a real animal/thing. It has to be realistic, otherwise the mind is not fooled as easily. One has to look twice in order to be surprised and get the curiosity triggered.
What’s your desired effect on the public?
To get them smiling, such a small thing but very powerfull. And eventually get them thinking about reality, why they do stuff the way they do it. Make people conscious of themselves and the world around them.
What are your influences?
Escher, Magritte, Serre, Topor, Dali, Bosch, Archimboldo.
We noticed that the majority of your creations are in black and white. What does this add to them?
To me adding colour only is necessary when the drawing is not communicating enough with black and white only. Like the Shoe/burger had to have colour, to make it a burger. I’ve noticed through the years that the more I draw, the less colour I need.
A clue as to what your next creation will be?
Currently I am working on an alphabet. Animals combined with the shape of the letters.
Many thanks to Redmer for his answers.
You can find his amazing drawings on his website and on his Facebook page.
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