My artpractice consists of three categories: creating art, educational projects and writing.

Art
Creating collections of objects and images lies at the heart of my art practice. My girlfriend often likens me to the Disney character Wall-e, both of us embracing the well-known adage "One man's trash is another man's treasure." The objects and images I collect are usually found, some I’ve received as gifts, every now and then they’re self-made, and a very small number have been purchased or 'permanently borrowed'. Subsequently, these collected things find their rightful place in installations, performances, storytelling, drawings, photography, and printed matter.

Educational
On my website, you’ll find examples of commissioned workshops I’ve facilitated, as well as collaborative art projects I’ve participated in. I currently work as a kids art educator in and around Venlo, leading workshops that inspire kids to discover beauty in everyday life and imagine fantastical worlds and creatures.

Writing
Writing holds a profound significance in my art practice, serving as a platform to merge personal insights and interests with academic and artistic knowledge. My texts take various forms, including research and position papers, essays, interviews, and more personal mumblings. The topics I explore are equally diverse: reflecting on a retreat in a Benedictine monastery, examining why I quit social media for a while, interviewing a philosopher on how artists learn, analyzing the socio-economic position of contemporary artists, and so on.

I believe my desire to make art, my will to be an artist, is actually a longing for a particular modus vivendi, a specific way of living. Gradually, I’ve come to see my life as a kind of bildungsroman in which art and culture are among the main driving forces. Life itself is, for me, a work of art, and vice versa—the artistic practice is a continuous, open-ended, and unfolding flux, a living organism. My loyalty and faithfulness lie in maintaining this open-ended process, keeping it flowing, practicing a labor of love.

I was born in 1993 and grew up in the south of Limburg, in the Netherlands. I currently live and work in Venlo, NL. I am an artist, kids' art educator, cook, and beekeeper. I very much love cinema, cooking and meditative and reflective practices like keeping a diary. Also, I love going to concerts, traveling, and spending time with my friends, family, and loved ones.

I have always been a creative, free-spirited, quirky, and thoughtful person. I have always been drawn to the arts—you might describe it as a calling—because I have always felt that the arts, as a discipline, offer a special kind of freedom, something I had and still have a strong need for. Additionally, I felt that the arts are a crossroads where all kinds of disciplines can come together.

After obtaining a propaedeutic diploma in 'Fine Art and Design Education' (2011-2013) at Fontys School of the Arts in Tilburg, I graduated cum laude in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in 'Fine Arts' (2013-2016) from the Maastricht Institute of Arts. Following that, I participated in 'POLIS - The Learning Community' (2016-2017), an experimental and educational artistic community. Lastly, I completed a master's degree in 'Arts and Culture' at Maastricht University (2018-2021).

At the art academy, I felt at home. Although it was an official bachelor's degree program, it felt more like a community of artists—including the teachers—who shared a common curiosity and passion for art. I look back on this time as a period of intense creativity, inspiration, a sense of community, and an urge to produce and think. This experience shaped the different ways I connect with art, reflect on it, and create it. It was as much a formal education as it was a form of personal and artistic growth.

During this period, I experimented with various methods of creation, leading to the realization that I am more a collector of images and objects above anything else. It was also during my time at the academy that I discovered my passion for cinema and began engaging in meditative and reflective practices, such as writing and teaching. During my studies, I gradually developed an understanding of art as a living, evolving process—a lifelong learning project. This formative period laid the groundwork for my future experiences and set the stage for the profound realizations and shifts that would come later in my career. The academy was where my initial connection to art slowly evolved into a dedicated artistic practice.

After completing this bachelor's degree, I won several prizes and was invited to participate in multiple exhibitions. In 2016, I was the winner of the Henriette Hustinxprijs, the ME-Award, and the ‘Scriptieprijs 2015-2016 Zuyd.’ Winning these awards and exhibiting my work made me realize that much of the art world is rather toxic. It is a realm dominated by prestige, glitter and glamour, and poisoned by exploitation, distorted power dynamics, and self-absorption. None of this aligned with the curiosity, freedom, and sense of community and care that I was seeking. During this period, I was also involved in POLIS, an artistic community initiated by and for creators and thinkers across various disciplines. POLIS aimed to deepen our practices in an environment where debate, connection, cooperation, engagement, and research were fundamental. We shared a belief that true insight emerges through exchange with others. From winning prizes, exhibiting my work and my involvement in POLIS, I gradually began to feel and realize that I wanted turn my back on the institutional art world. Yet in oder to move forward, I had to engage in serious introspection and, in some ways, let go of my previous work and attitudes to make room for new growth.

I was eager for answers and sought a different approach. I wanted to understand why the art world functions as it does and try to find my place within it. I decided to enroll in a master’s program at Maastricht University, where I immersed myself in academia. Writing extensively from an academic perspective on art, the lives of artists, and the art world helped me gain greater clarity about its meticulous workings while also sharpening my own position within it. During and after completing this master’s degree, I worked as a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie. There, I focused on a qualitative research project examining the relationship between the work ethic and the precarious socio-economic position of contemporary artists. Ultimately, the conclusions of the research led me to further reject and retreat from the institutional and academic art world altogether. From that point on, I went completely underground.

This period of my life was quite difficult. After working several side jobs, I felt lost, cut off from any creativity or freedom, unguided, and disconnected from what I loved dearly. I needed to reorient myself and sought to create a stable and healthy foundation for my life—not just financially, but in all dimensions.

In doing so, I developed a growing urge to explore interests outside of the arts. I took courses in beekeeping and baking sourdough bread, spent some time in a Benedictine monastery, and became increasingly interested in cooking, as well as meditative, spiritual, and psychedelic practices. I was searching for a renewal of amor mundi—an energy and love for life. I wished to experience curiosity, creativity, and other open impulses that fuel life, make it interesting, and give it beauty.

Now in my early 30s, a decade after beginning my journey at the art academy, I feel that I’ve finally found my place. I now live with my wonderful and loving girlfriend and our dog in Venlo, where we share a spacious studio that brings our creative ideas to life. Having stepped away from the institutional art world for a while, I’m gradually finding my way back—this time with a new mindset and attitude. My main focus, however, remains on cultivating an independent artistic practice that stays true to my creative vision.

In addition to this, I work as a kids art educator in and around Venlo, leading workshops that inspire kids to discover beauty in everyday life and imagine fantastical worlds and creatures. I’m also a beekeeper and enjoy writing movie reviews. If you’re a movie fanatic like me, you can follow me on Letterbox.

For a comprehensive overview of my curriculum vitae, please visit this page.

Come and say hi on email! If you’re a movie fanatic like me, you can follow me on Letterboxd. I'm also active on Instagram, see you there!