Bobby Veldhuizen (1994, Amsterdam)

Within my work I research “the alternative.” Different ways of seeing, thinking and living as described in counterculture movements, speculative fiction and anti-hegemonic philosophical thought, influence my practice. In my paintings I use a broad range of materials, oil paint, wall paint, acrylics, spray paint, permanent marker, lacquer, epoxy, sand, dirt, glue, silicone, dragon blood, mineral spirit, flowers, and more. The unpredictability of mixing these materials makes me feel like an alchemist or witch of sorts. By mixing not only materials but also styles I aim at exploring ambivalence and ambiguity – concepts which I believe to be powerful, as things can be multiple ways at the same time. An escalator cannot break, but will just become stairs. And as such uselessness constitutes a function in itself. My paintings could be referred to as ‘ambiguous abstractions,’ floating somewhere between abstraction and representation.
Maybe paintings are useless and as such reflect on nothing other than themselves, maybe they simultaneously have the power to change the conditions of the world, exactly because they don’t serve a purpose. My grandfather told me nothing is something, and I am stuck with that, probably for the rest of my life. Inside his cigarette box was written that those who know do not speak. I do speak sometimes.

 

Exhibitions (Selection)

JumpIn2, Capital C, Amsterdam, 2024
An Evening at the Factory, Gelderlandfabriek, Culemborg, 2023
Vloeiende Grenzen, Galerie Brandstof, Leerdam, 2023
In het Diepe, Koppelkerk, Bredevoort, 2023
Graduation Show, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam 2022
High Fidelity, M4 Gastatelier, Amsterdam, 2022
Piep, knars, krijs, kraak!, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, Amsterdam, 2022
3 Danish and a Dutch Walk Into a Bar, Vondelbunker, Amsterdam, 2018

 

Education 

Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
BA in Fine Arts 
2017-2022 

Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig
Semester abroad
2019-2020 

University College Utrecht, Utrecht
BA in Liberal arts and Sciences 
2014-2017 

Hong Kong University, Hong Kong
Semester abroad 
2016 

 

Publications
Article in NRC Handelsblad (1 september 2022):
In mijn werk geef ik de suggestie dat het lijkt op iets wat het niet is