Abstract art is sometimes one of the most underrated artistic expressions in painting. Such works do not always reveal their secrets easily, but this can also be precisely the reason that makes the works extra interesting. We spoke with artist Hilde Vroon (Groningen, 1977) about her work and methods in her studio.
“I've always been drawing and I've always had a strong passion for design and fashion. That is why I registered for the MDGO MK (Fashion and Clothing) after high school, but it soon turned out that I was only interested in the design part rather than in the rest of the course, so I changed direction. After graduating, I studied Art and Design in Leeuwarden for two years, and also did the admission course for the CIBAB, where I found out that I mainly focus on my own work and not just work on commission. So I decided to sign up for the Graphic Design course at Academy Minerva. During this course I was encouraged by my teachers to learn how to formulate my own visual language and so I made the switch to Autonomous Visual Art and graduated as an artist in 2006. After graduating I tried for a number of years to find my own way in the world, but for various reasons that did not happen. Nevertheless, in 2019 I decided to pick up my artist practice, find a studio and get back to work. To my surprise, this quickly started to run very well; my work is in the Art Lending at Kunstpunt Groningen, I just had an exhibition at the UMCG and thanks to instagram I even sold a work to a buyer in America.
My works are very abstract in nature and I find my inspiration in the plant world, design and fashion. In addition, Japonism, Street Art and Pop Art are also important influences in my work. The connection with nature has always been there; my father used to have a wild plant nursery and took me by the hand as a small child and pointed out all the plants. I am fascinated by all the capricious forms that nature can take and what kind of images you can create with it. I buy books about plants in the thrift store and scan the photos and illustrations into my computer. I then edit these again in Illustrator, where I play with all the tools the program has to offer me. I like high contrasts and playing with lines, shapes and residual forms. I fill in these shapes with color and move the frames around until I have a composition I'm happy with. I then print this out and transfer the image to a canvas using an overhead projector. Then I lay the canvas flat on a work table and get to work with acrylic paint. I often use the Golden brand because it has a high pigment content and dries quickly. As a result, the color areas are tight on the canvas, making it almost look like you printed it instead of it looking very hand-painted. I don't use tape because it's hard to get the curves right and the paint sometimes flows underneath. I therefore just use a brush and paint everything very precisely. It is wonderfully meditative work and it gives a lot of peace in my head.
At the moment I am working with Jop Luberti on an assignment for a large mural for the housing corporation Nijestee. Jop is also an artist and also a riso printer. My work is pretty flat in nature and Jop has a lot more color gradation, so it's going to be interesting how this comes together. Fortunately, we work well together and we both look forward to seeing our work come together on such a large scale.”
You can find Hilde Vroon's work in our Art Rental Collection, and on her Instagram: @hildevroon