It looks very cleaned up, but this the way my desk usually is. I need it like this. I have a lot of collected items in my studio and this is the only way to be / work here is in a “cleaned” up (still messy).”
Jeroen Allart (1970) is a Dutch artist who attended Art Academy Rotterdam (Willem de Kooning Academy) and Rijksacademy (Amsterdam).
It took me thirty years to understand this nice flatness. To bring the essence of the Dutch landscape to my paintings.
FROM YOUR DESKS: How old is that radio you have at your desk?
JEROEN ALLART: The radio is from the eighties. I love this kind of radio, it’s so nicely designed. Especially the new features, like a tape-counter, or this radio-balance-meter.
FYD: What do you listen to?
JA: I listen to Dutch talk programs. After a while, I turn it off and put on my own music. I’m a big fan of Lucinda Williams and Johhny Cash, but also listen to Rihanna and Fedde Le Grand. And everything in between. I also swapped my I-phone for a John’s Phone (the golden one). It’s really old fashion, but also brand new! Like the old radio on my desk!
FYD: How do you work?
JA: I work after I drop my daughter Tijs to school. 8:50 is coffee time, check my mail, read the newspaper. 10:30 starting to paint. Till 17:00. Everyday the same time. It’s not the length of time, but the quality at time. Something like that. Twenty years ago, I worked all day and also in the night. It was a totally new experience, this painting. I had to find out what I was looking for. In the end of the Nineteen’s there was the beginning off an oeuvre, which fits me. So, I don’t have to struggle anymore.
FYD: I own a box of your Bird Notecards. Are your birds mostly of Dutch origin?
JA: Yes I think so. Or not? I don’t know actually. I was just looking for really cool birds! However, our ‘Dutch’ birds are also living in Africa, Australia, Iceland or Scandinavia.
FYD: Did you grow up in the country or take a family trips?
JA: I grew up in a small village in Holland. We did everything by bike. Over the holidays, when I was 10 years old, we took the boat to England and cycled to London. The next year was to Germany…and so on. In all those trips, I learned a lot about flat landscapes. It took me thirty years to understand this nice flatness. To bring the essence of the Dutch landscape to my paintings.
Our ‘Dutch’ birds are also living in Africa, Australia, Iceland or Scandinavia.
FYD: The Dutch cowboys are back! But who are they? JA: We have 100,000 Dutch Cow Boys here in Holland. It’s a cow country!
Follow Jeroen on Twitter: @jeroenallart
By far, the best artist I’ve seen at the RAI Amsterdam 2010 edition.
Jeroen has taken the baton from Dutch landscape painters of the golden age to the present time. He captures the essence of the Dutch visuality in every work and expresses it in a very suggestive way.
A true artist like few. Keep on working this way.
Christian Maal, art historian.
Hi christiaan,
I first met Jeroen Allart when he was a student at Willem de Kooning academy and I was studying Psychology. Now we are ‘working together’: Jeroen being a great painter and a wonderful person, me showing and selling his work as a gallerist. I stumbled on your post celebrating his work. Just wanted to tell you I was happy to read what you say and think about his work. Best, Frank