‘As an artist I want to live from my art’

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‘During my secondary school days in Friesland, I found a response in the punk culture. I sometimes felt lonely, a dissenter. After the former art academy in Kampen rejected me, I entered the squatting circuit. In 2001 I squatted with three others in the dilapidated factory of chips manufacturer Golden Wonder in Zwolle. I lived there for a year.

“In the factory I organized performances for touring bands, from Zagreb to New York, and opened a small bar. I gave the entrance fee to the bands. I bought peanut butter, bread and electrodes for my welding machine from the bar revenues, no more than 50 euros a month. I got goat cheese, pastries and vegetables from waste containers from large supermarkets. That’s all I needed. It gave a feeling of complete independence, something I want to continue to experience.

“In my work I try to take a step beyond activist art. Activism puts energy into the conflict and puts the blame on the other. I think that’s a shame. As a social artist, I use humor and social interaction to make important topics, such as Dutch migration policy, open to discussion for a large audience.

“As an artist you make a choice: either you take a part-time job, or you live entirely from your art. I chose the latter. My artistry is a business in which I invest a lot of time and money. Lately I’ve noticed that studios and museums know where to find me more often. I usually earn below the minimum wage, but there is an upward trend.”

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‘For one of my projects – sixty woodcut portraits of undocumented refugees – I invested 2,500 euros in one and a half kilometers of 300 gram acid-free Hahnemühle paper. By selling a limited edition, I hope to recoup those costs.

“With a daughter and the monthly rent for my studio, financial security has become more important. What remains, I put in a buffer. I see that savings as insurance: during the corona pandemic, it was my salvation. I did get an allowance, but it wasn’t a lot of money.

“In 2012 I bought a motorboat, which I converted into tiny houseboat and renovated during the first corona wave. I placed a quarter of a caravan on the aft deck. That became my bedroom. The houseboat helped me survive in Amsterdam, which is experiencing a lot of gentrification. I lived on it for seven years. Hopefully it can continue to exist as an artistic object, for example in a sculpture garden of a museum.

“I am looking for a studio home with my family. Difficult, because there are only 250 of them in the city. But I don’t want to move back to the countryside. In Amsterdam I am in the middle of a stream of new people and ideas.”