After years of living in Amsterdam, the Groninger Otto Krol (1949) is back in his birthplace. And we can be proud of that. Krol paints colorful, almost abstract paintings of images that you see every day, but that you have never looked at like this before. A house, a boat, a factory. What drives this artist? We visited him in his studio. "My work is precisely because everything is clearly in its place."
When you visit Krol's studio above the open-air swimming pool De Papiermolen, you first seem to walk through one of his paintings. The bath is empty and all you see are surfaces: a green, empty lawn, an empty bath and a diving board that you better not jump off. Those surfaces suit Krol, it is as if he has chosen his studio based on the environment. Krol: “When I retired I thought: I don't want to sit at home all day. Then I rented a studio in the Bijlmer. Now that I have moved, I thought: then I must also have a studio in Groningen.”
Krol comes from an artistic family. When I ask where his interest in art comes from, he says: “We have painters in the family, like my brother Edzard. His son is a translator again. Edzard was an example for me, because of him my urge to draw arose. I also had a cousin who painted a lot of seascapes. My brothers were much older than me and I got on well with them. We didn't visit any museums, but we did listen to a lot of classical music at home.”
And then of course he also had his brother Gerrit Krol, who was a poet. “He was also an example. I thought: he expresses himself in that area, then I try to express myself in this area.” It doesn't matter to him that Otto was often seen as 'the brother of': “He was an example, a role model, so that was not something to be ashamed of at all. He was always very encouraging to me.”
Both Otto and his brother Gerrit also work as computer engineers in addition to their artistic careers. At first sight a strange combination, which arose out of necessity for the painter: “After my drawing training I was an art teacher for a while, but could not keep order at all. My father always said: you can do an art course, but you also have to earn your money. So I became an art teacher. When I had tried that long enough, I became more of an automaton.”
If you paint so realistically, the question arises what the difference is with a photo. Otto Krol
Krol studied at the Minerva Academy, after which he made paintings that were almost indistinguishable from photographs. “In my time at Minerva, photorealism emerged, where you painted things – like cars and machines – as if it were a photograph. My attention to the ordinary did arise here. But if you paint so realistically, the question arises what the difference is with a photo. I often chose a certain image or object and then I extracted something from it, so I did compose. As a result, the selective and tightness came into my work.”
That attention to the ordinary and the selective, strict style can still be recognized in Krol's work. Yet the paintings are much more abstract than photo-realistic after Krol's training. Krol: “In the end I started painting many groups of people, which I did not paint very precisely and tightly, but more in light and dark areas. I did that sketchily. Maybe I started painting a little more loosely from here, away from that very strict.”
These human groups had a certain attraction. “I liked all the curves in groups of people and the rhythmic arrangement of the surfaces and shadows, the spots of light on them. In this way, a jacket becomes more of an interplay of surfaces.” Did he also see people, or only planes? “No, I did see people. If you're going to do something wrong, a head gets too big or something, then the relationship changes and it starts to interfere. It has to be human, the proportions have to be right. An arm should not become a wooden rod.”
Gradually, a change can be seen in Krol's work. Not groups of people, but buildings and other images from the city are now the main theme in his work. “In the end I thought: whatever I do, it won't get any better. I always started with a lot of ideas: I want this, I want that… but it didn't work out. Then I slowly moved on to other subjects. To get on a new path, I painted on paper. Every day I chose a different topic. What shall I do today? Well, that's what I was going to do. But I never spent more than a day on it. I kept that up for a hundred days. That's how I got out of my frame. Ultimately, I now look at perspective structures. My mood, or the subject, sometimes leads me to something else. You also have to be able to let your intuition work a bit.”
Sometimes things come into a painting that I wouldn't have wanted. Otto Krol
Although Krol paints different subjects, his unique style is always recognizable. But what's in it? How do you recognize a real Otto Krol? Krol: “I heard the term 'loose, yet precise' on a radio program. If someone would say that about my work, I'd be happy. That's what I'm aiming for. My work is precisely because everything is clearly in its place, it does not fan out. But my work is loose due to the transparent use of the paint, my paintings are not equally thick everywhere. Sometimes things come into a painting that I wouldn't have wanted. I often let myself be guided by what I just did and then afterwards I think 'I didn't expect that from myself' or 'That doesn't seem like anything'. Sometimes you can surprise yourself with something you didn't expect.”
Almost everything Krol makes is based on his own photos. “At home I have about 36,000 photos on the computer that I have to organize very well. I often crop out a photo, and even within that crop I leave things out.”
When I ask Krol if he has any other dreams, he starts to think deeply. “What can I say… I want to make another masterpiece, of course, or some masterpieces or whatever. Krol is not so much critical of his work. "I sometimes think: I do my best, and then I choose what has succeeded best. If I choose the best of what has succeeded, then that is what I can do. There is nothing more."
Note: This article is translated using Google Translate