Transcription
Thank you.
Wow, give me a moment to let this sink in, this is incredible.
It's my first time doing a talk on a congress or an event and it's my first day with Marc, it's the first time that I'm talking about my work, I did presentations before, but that was different, this is about my work and every slide you will see is just a little part of me, so it's like more than being naked.
But the first thing that came to mind when I was asked to do this, I thought wow, what would be cool to do, and I'm going to show you something, and it's also the first time for a live audience, so wow.
But I need you guys, and girls, I really would like if you could take out your cellphones and you could film what is going to happen next, it will take like a minute, it won't be feature length so you don't have to sit up like this, but if you could do this filming that would be awesome, and buckle up, I'm going to show you something.
Everybody ready?
Everybody ready?
Ready?
Wow.
It has a different background.
Everything is mixed up.
I promise you after the talk I will do another one, and maybe some of you who want to try can go up on stage again.
Anyways, what I like about this is this is the first time that I see this portrait with you guys, I share the same moment, we see this for the first time, and it's called a light painting, it's not a light ballet, it's a light painting, and what I like about light paintings is that they're not here anymore, they're gone, and when I walked up stage I had no idea what I was going to draw, and I had no idea my light wasn't working, and I kind of like this kind of thing, it really excites me, that I don't know what it will end up, and that I will meet this for the first time, and it's not there, and I'm very happy that you guys and girls filmed it, so we have some proof that it happened, and this kind of idea is what I've did for 10 years now, and what I want to continue doing because I really love this.
So let's get the thing started.
So anyways, what I first want to talk about is that a lot of things have changed for me this year, and directly in January after I was asked to do this talk, a lot of things changed for the better, a lot of good things happened, some bad things happened, but anyways what happened was it made me look back at the 10 years of my work that I was doing, because in the beginning I was like, wow, I've got so much stuff to show, I can click on and click on and click on, but then I found out that I look different at my work, so I thought that would be something to share with you guys I think.
And that's what I'm going to do.
And the first thing that I'm going to do is, well later I want to show a story about Jasper, he's a friend of mine, and the other thing that happened to me is that I was diagnosed with ADHD, and I was, well first I think this is just 10 minutes before I came up, I thought okay well I need to share this because it's very fresh, and yeah well we all know the myths about ADHD and everything so I want to go into discussion with that, but I do know that it really affected me, and somehow it also explained to me why I was doing this, so dedicated for 10 years, but we will find out later on.
The thing that happened, and it really is a sad story, and we need to get through this and then afterwards, no sad stories promised, there's a friend of mine, he's called Jasper, and Jasper, he has a small family with his girlfriend, he has a little boy, and he's a good friend, he's not the kind of friend that you need to call every time, but I think I call him every once in three years, but he had rough times, his girlfriend had cancer when his kid was born, so they've been through a lot, and he always said to me, well if you could do a custom portrait for us, would you like to do that?
I said yeah of course man, I will make you one.
And he sent me an email, but somehow it got mixed up or somehow it didn't arrive, and I think two months ago, two and a half months ago, he sent me a text message, he said hey buddy, did you see the email I sent you?
No.
And then he said, well we still want a custom portrait, are you up for it?
I said yeah of course, but then he said well, but things kind of changed, because the cancer got back, and I was like fuck, and I know about the email that I've forgotten about, and I feel really really bad, and I was in the car, I wanted to go walk with the dog, and then I got out of the car, and I thought well, what should I make for these people?
And I was very devastated, I thought well, but then suddenly it came to my mind, I have this thing that I create out of a stain, I put some acrylic paint on a paper, and I pull off another paper that I put on, and then there's this stain, and I see this stain for the first time, and then I dive in and I draw a portrait on it.
It's in the moment, it's this thing, two seconds before it wasn't there, and now it is.
So I thought well, it would be cool if I invited them, and they make this stain for me, and then I dive in and I do them a portrait.
So I called him up, I said this is what we're going to do, he said yeah well, she needs to go in surgery next week so we need to be quick, so I did everything, I said okay, come over to the studio next day and we're going to do this.
And this is what I wanted to show you.
Oh, if you would be my guide, it would be right.
Oh, if you would be my guide to escape.
Oh, if you would be my guide, it would be right.
Oh, if you would be my guide to escape.
So this is the portrait that I made.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And it was, and I've tried how I could express myself, but I've been for 10 years doing this stuff, I'm on social media everywhere and I'm posting these kind of things, and I get my likes, I receive feedback and everything, and compliments and also bad stuff that I don't think about.
This was the first time that they literally stood next to me and there was tension of course, because I feel tension because I need to perform and I couldn't make fuck-ups, but yeah, that's okay, but I felt like they really liked my work, it made my work meaningful and it's silly but I didn't allow it until then.
And that thing really sank in and I thought, wow, this is something.
And this is what I've been, yeah, this is what really made me look back and took a few moments and that's what I wanted to share with you.
The other thing is that we made five of those.
I said, okay, we continue until everybody's too tired, and they said, yeah, it's okay, yeah, of course it's okay.
So we made five of those and we put them down and then we were walking and I just joked, I said, well, I'm happy I don't have to choose because everyone was kind of nice.
And then we were looking at it and I said, wow, that's amazing, it's like your kid, it's like it's growing up or somehow.
And I didn't have the intention of drawing it, I can't even do this.
It's impossible to have this kind of control.
And then I said, okay, wow, well, maybe you take all five, you just put them in a frame and every time when something good happens you go to another one and another one and another one and let's promise that within a few years I will see just a picture of you guys with the one that he looks, the oldest, he was growing up a little bit more with you guys in it.
And they agreed upon and, yeah, it's just this beautiful moment that we share together.
So then I asked, is it okay, I go do this presentation, is it okay if I take you guys as an example because it really meant a lot to me, it wasn't a pivot point this year.
They said, okay, we'll totally agree upon.
So that's what happened and, well, like I said, it took me like seven moments that I thought, well, it would be nice to show where I've learned the form and where I thought about, wow, that's amazing.
I didn't see that at that time but afterwards I was like, oh, wow, this is really something that helped me to move forward as an artist.
Let's see.
But before I continue, I just want to say, okay, where did I start?
It's upon a time.
I want to show you some of my stuff before I start doing portraits like this.
And I think it's very cool, it's just like, it's very recent, it's this work, as you can see.
This is my first one-line drawing.
It's my name, because it's not really good reading.
And over there, what you see over there, it's not like an android or something taking over the world, it's an airplane.
I was really, when I was a kid, I really loved those airplanes that make these lines in the air, not the GAM trails, but the ones that were intentionally doing this.
And this is like my first one-line drawing, I was very, I think at the age of five, already working on this concept.
And what I also did is that I made a few portraits of landscapes.
That's what my project was, it was a side project, I've always been working in the creative field, but on the side, as a freelancer, and on the side, I had these things, my outlet, and I could do these kind of things.
And this is one of them.
This is the other one.
It's amazing, right?
It's like paradise, and then they have put this, and it really fucks up the atmosphere, I think.
But that's what I like when doing these.
And this one, this is also memorable.
This is not photoshopped, this is real, I need to tell, because it's very cool.
It's a nephew of mine, and I saw this cloud, and I said to him, okay, go over there, jump, and then I jumped, and it's not a great picture, it's just a little blurry, but it's okay.
It's the moment that was already, thing.
So, and he said, okay, cool, and he listened, so I was very lucky.
And that was until 2012, and then in 2012, well, a lot of things changed again.
It's like, it's this kind of thing.
Well, what I did then is that in 2012 I became a father to twins, beautiful twins, of course.
Yeah, thank you.
And I also became an adult, I think.
Not really, but I was supposed to.
And I also started a job at a company.
Yeah, well, that was not just a good decision, because me and a company, it wasn't a match.
But then I really thought, well, okay, I can't go out anymore, I can't do the portraits of landscape, because I need to travel, I need to make pictures, and yeah, well, with kids it's impossible.
And to be honest, that new world that was created, I also liked.
So I thought, well, it would be cool if I could find something where I can just draw on, and it would be very close by, very easy, very portable, and very doable, just for myself.
Not to share, but just for myself.
And I found one, and that was the kitchen table.
And that was my studio, was the kitchen table.
And not everybody was happy that I was at the kitchen table, because it has stains from paint on it.
But then I started drawing, and I started drawing these one-line portraits.
And there was no intention of anything, it was not just for aesthetics, it was just for me, and then I came back to the ADAD, it was for me a way to get into the moment, that's kind of a concept that I had in mind.
I thought, well, okay, I start here, or here, or here, and I continue drawing, and then afterwards, I don't know where I'm done, but it's okay, and in the middle there's pure adventure, I just see what happens.
And afterwards, that was my dopamine, that was my high, my kick.
And that I kept on doing, I did a lot of drawings then, because I was very small, and then in 2016 I decided, well, I really want to give that art thing a chance.
So what I did then, Instagram started doing film and everything, so I could do making-offs, and I started a daily drawing project.
And I wanted to show you some of the drawings that I did back then.
To lower the light speed.
The first thing I did was a drawing that I did in a studio.
And then I started doing the drawings on a computer, and I started doing the drawings in a studio, and then I started doing them in a studio.
And then I started doing them in a studio.
And then I started doing them in a studio, and then I started doing them in a studio.
And then I started doing them in a studio, and then I started doing them in a studio.
And then I started doing them in a studio, and then I started doing them in a studio.
And then I started doing them in a studio, and then I started doing them in a studio.
Kitchen table.
Stakes.
Kitchen table.
Not a kitchen table, but...
I don't know.
That's it.
Thank you.
And yeah, well I had great fun.
And I experimented a lot, I shared these, and then, well, somehow, not somehow, but...
Instagram got really picky on those videos, so...
Then overnight I gained like 10.000 followers somewhere, and...
And that was not my intention, so it really was very difficult for me how to...
How to grow up to that standard, that new standard that was there.
But I'm very proud that I remained my focus and I just kept on drawing.
But one day there was this particular piece of sheet, this one, and there was one left.
There was one left, and we were just about to go eat, and the sheet was over there, and I thought, OK, well, I need to get my stuff from the kitchen table, and well, there's this one sheet, and I thought, fuck, yeah, well, there's one sheet.
I can pick it up, put it somewhere, and use it the next time, or I can throw it away, but that would be a waste of paper.
So what I did then, I thought, OK, well, I've got one more minute, one and a half minutes, I'm going to draw one last drawing, and that's what I did.
And you hear the kitchen sounds and the kids in the background looking.
Kids playing.
And this work, this work, I was, wow, I was amazed.
It was somehow everything connected, and I was really proud of it, and it gave me that uplifting feeling, so I shared it online, and not only with the drawings, but also the titles of the drawings, I just came up with just a second before I posted them.
What I saw, I posted, and it was my kind of thing, nobody knew, but it's OK. And this drawing was called Moment.
And to be honest, from this drawing, I thought, wow, so for me it was not one line out of the aesthetics, but it was more like doing it one try, or one time, or in one stroke, and really pushing myself to the limit.
And afterwards, the one line was not my focus, but it was just being in the moment, doing it in the moment, in one moment.
And the funny thing, if you share this online, and everybody talks about algorithms and everything, and it's true, they are there, but somehow this one really resonated with people, and it's funny, but it's like the most used tattoo that people bought.
If you look at this, here, here.
And the thing is, I couldn't wrap my head around what this meant to me.
And like this here, I looked back and thought, wow, this is amazing.
This is made in the moment, lasting a lifetime.
I said, wow, this is really something I really want to start doing more again.
And this woman, she holds the record, she has like, I think, 13 or 14 one line drawings connected to each other, and she has this complete sleeve.
And wow, I'm really proud of this, and I can understand, this will last a lifetime.
So, then another thing, another moment.
Fear of fun, and it's a joke, because I like to have fun.
But fear of fun is, well, it is something where I'm not particularly fond of, I like to have fun, but in a way, sometimes when you have fun, then things happen, and you get very productive, or you get very successful, and then, in my account, it is that afterwards, I don't know what happened, and how could I achieve it again.
And that's what happened with this, I will show you.
And we're lucky, this is also a light painting that you're going to see, so now you're going to see it in one.
This is in Ameland, it's on the beach.
I took the kids out, and said, okay, well, let's have fun, let's make some pictures on the beach, but I happen to have this light painting thing with me, this light source, and we tried, and they tried, and I tried, so I tried this one, and here it goes. music playing music playing Here's the result.
Here's the result, one.
Thank you. applause We have another one, but...
You can see the light slowly going down, and it's very difficult to do light painting outside, because the conditions are, well, I'm not a photographer, but I don't really know what it is, but it needs to be perfect. music playing music playing That's this result.
Thank you. applause Thank you.
Nice thing to...
Look, I'm ghosting here.
I'm just being present, and all of me would say, oh, well, just Photoshop it gone, but I thought, well, that's nice, it's like my signature.
But what I was saying is that the conditions were perfect, because they turned out very well.
I think these are the best ones I did outside, but I like how the light is reflecting on the beach.
Sometimes it's too dark, you don't see the beach as well, you get too much contrast.
Sometimes the light just goes off, you see it in the beginning, we had too bright screen, it was a kind of mistake, but we had a bright screen, but then it fucks up everything, you don't see the light anymore.
But with this one, it was perfect.
And the fun thing in this part was, OK, I posted it online, and this one, I posted online, the video, and the cool thing about the video was you could really see how I was making it, because sometimes it's too dark and you don't see anything, but now you could see it.
And the thing is that it got like, and it's not the numbers, but I got like one and a half million views, it was like my all-time favorite thing.
It was one and a half million views.
And the other one, this one, this one, it got selected and it was being used in Beijing at an exposition.
And, well, this is sent to me the second of the day, the first day at the exposition, look here.
And let me tell you, the video you will see, that was me having fun with my kids on the beach, and now I'm in this exposition in Beijing.
I don't understand this kind of thing.
The world is crazy, and it truly is.
So, that's the thing.
But there's more to it that I have to do.
I will explain later what it is.
I sometimes push myself by giving myself an assignment.
I want to do bigger work, and I thought, wow, cool, bigger work, but sustainable, because a lot of paint, yeah, costs a lot, and also it's not so good for the environment.
So I thought about the idea that I wanted to go somewhere where there's a large piece of sand, and I could use a stick and just scratch in the sand a drawing, and then with a drone we would film it, we would film the making of and everything.
But, well, I could do that on my own, so I had an assistant of mine, I sometimes used him, and I called him and we scheduled everything and said, okay, well, this day when we need this and this and this, so I took everything, the gear, everything, we met at a place, and just before I wanted to go to the place, I was in my barn and I was looking, and then there was this container where you can put water in, you can water the garden, and, honest, I didn't know why, but I was in a hurry, because I was too late, and I was like, fuck, okay, well, oh, cool, I can take this with me, and I filled it up with water, and, well, I put it in the car and I drove up, and then I walked, feeling sorry for myself, I have to carry this 5 kilograms of water to the desolated place, and when we came there, the assistant was like, dude, we were just using a stick, right, and what are you going to do with a tank?
I said, yeah, well, I just want to try something, I have this feeling.
And then I did, and it turned out this one.
He got the drone up, and I thought, okay, cool, I'm going to do this, pumping up the atmosphere inside the tank, and let's go.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Thank you.
So I want to try to explain what happens in my mind when I was drawing this one.
First of all, it was the circle, I was like, how?
I couldn't see it because it was with the drone, but I just thought, well, give it a try, and this happened.
I don't think I can do this again.
But the other thing is that, and it worked out well, and the drawing, and the water really made the contrast with the sand, so you could see it very well.
But the other thing is, we were standing aside, and we were discussing here, over here, we were standing there aside, and we were discussing, wow, this is amazing, and do you want to use a stick?
And I said, no, I'm going to use this one, because this is much better.
And we were waiting and talking, and it was kind of hot that day, just like now, and slowly, the water gets vaporized, and it gets picked up, and it gets carried away, and then you get this, like a scar in the sand, where the drawing was, and slowly that faded away, and I was like, wow, this is really something, this is really what I like, it's in the moment, it doesn't last, it's gone, it's just gone, if you walk on it, it's gone.
And that kind of thing really turned up my mind, and I said, okay, well, I really need to do this more often.
And I thought, well, should there be a trick?
Well, I thought, well, this is what I'm going to live by right now, if you want some adventure, put some ta-da on your to-do list, because a to-do list, it's inevitable, you always need one, but I always try to get something on that list that I don't think about and just let it happen, who knows, we'll see what happens.
And what I was talking about fun, and it's really, I need to tell it more to myself, about having fun, this is quite recent, I took the kids out this summer, and we made this drawing in the sand, and I will just show you a short one, it's not so used there, well, obviously, shadows, and we do this, and the fun thing, my kids are very used to this, and they call them daddies, they don't call them portrait, they call them daddies, because I've been doing this since they were born, so...
It's like a stencil art kind of thing, but then different.
It happened on a day I wanted to do a large one, but somehow the drone had no batteries or something, and sometimes my son helps out, and this was the result, and it's quite fun, it looked quite nice, and I did a series, and one of those got, I don't know, I can't imagine, this is from this morning, it has 3.7 million views on Instagram and Facebook alone, and well, like so many followers, and again, it's not the followers, it's not the numbers, but somehow this resonates with people, people like this, and it's that feeling, it's cool, and it's made out of fun, so I'm telling you, but I'm mainly telling myself, I should have more fun.
Then we get to this one, the human error, I always like the human error, I'm very fond of handwritten stuff, like the titles, because then things happen that you can't manage, so that's what I like, and I have this kind of thing I wrote down, I think it was in January, and the aesthetics of the mistakes, sounds cool, the excellence of error, the wonder of wrong, the fantasticness of fuck-ups, and it's the you in human, and I try to live by this, trying to do my best to live by this, but it's true, when you put some human into something, then it really comes alive, but I've always been experimenting with a lot of stuff, like you saw, a lot of paint kind of thing, and one of the things that I really fell in love with is VR, and I think since the beginning of that I do these portraits, and I sold some, I collected some money, and as soon as I had enough, I bought this VR headset, and I took it out for a spin, and this is one of the results, it's not the first one, but it's... ... ... and I used the leg, because otherwise, in the beginning, I did just like freestyle in the air, and it was nice, but it didn't add something, it was just a drawing in 3D. Now here you see the results, and here you can see how they look like, and they're not real, of course, I wish they would, but even for me, even when you put on this very shiny metal, because the 3D world and the VR world, it's perfect, it's very clean, I'm not perfect, and I'm not clean, I don't like it, but this is what happens when you draw it, it still is VR, it still is 3D, but for me, it has this kind of human-made thing, and this is not something that we can use, but okay.
Here are some few that I did, some renders, I'm really into shoes.
I don't know, it's nice to draw high heels, maybe I need a therapist to...
But it's the truth, but it's beautiful, right?
The object is fantastic.
And this one, and I also experimented with larger scale stuff, I thought it would be cool to be a wind turbine, and I put it in this desolated area, I did this Sphinx kind of thing, having fun, and this is also one, and it's...
Yeah, it's a headset that I did, I put a little bit more on, so I get this feeling, and I get this stuff, but it's all drawn in the moment, and even today, and seeing it again, because it's a long time ago, I thought, wow, if this could be really a headset, so cool.
Then I experimented, I thought, I need to push it further, and then I thought, okay, I have this 3D space, I need to make something that really is an object that you can use, and that is real.
So the thing is, because I use it by hand, I do freestyle hand drawing, and I don't know, maybe it's a technical option, but I don't look at it, I couldn't make stuff stop at the same time.
So what I wanted to do, I wanted to draw a chair with four legs, and you know those legs need to be level, because otherwise it's not a chair, you fall off.
So what I found out is this, I used this kind of wood, so it has this physical part in the real world that I could put the legs on, so it became something that was really level, and I kept drawing like this.
Very concentrated, even with the headset on.
Now I'm going for the chair, for the legs, see?
Ta-da, finished, wow.
This is drawing in the moment, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
But what I like the most, and I don't think about this, I'm going to post online or anything, this really excites me, it's a drawing of a chair in the moment, in one line, and I really hope that all chairs would look like this, not because it's good, but it's funny, you know, and it's made in the moment, it's like wow, this thing has a story to it, and it just happened in one minute, so...
Well, I kept on doing these, and then I started doing them 3D printing, because I think, well, that's the proof of the pudding, but 3D printing is very expensive, so I first used small chairs, like this one, and later on, these are 3D renders, I've experimented a little bit more, pushed it like this, and then I found a guy on the internet, on Instagram, and I asked Instagram, oh, could somebody help me 3D print this chair, not this one, but the other one, this chair, because I really would love to have it in real, but 3D printing live-size, well, it's kind of expensive, but he did, and he showed me, he sent it over to me, so now this chair is reality, so it's like backwards, coming out of virtual reality into this reality again, the unfortunate thing, you can't sit on it, but...
Yeah, Jasper's kid did, because he was small enough, he was in the studio, so I said, OK, well, you can, and just sit still, so it's...
And here is another one.
And look, it's...
This is Photoshopped.
Because I only had one chair, OK. Yeah, in good we trust.
Well, I have the intention to be naive, and I really felt bad about it, and, yeah, I always say, oh, I'm naive, and, well, people say, OK, well, so you're dumb or something, but I think naive is a superpower, and I use it, because I use naivety because I don't think through everything over and over and over again, because sometimes I can.
And sometimes when I'm naive, I just react out of a feeling.
And sometimes good things happen then, if you open up.
For example, some people contacted me to do collaborations, and I didn't want to do collaborations, because I was, well, kind of shy, and I wasn't, like, noticed my art, and I was really curious what they would do with my art, if they would fuck it up, or would they understand what I was doing, because, well, I was not really understand what I was doing, so what do they want from me?
But the first thing that I'm going to show you is a collaboration with Polaroid.
And it was very funny, because they asked me, well, we've seen your work on Instagram, would you like a collaboration with Polaroid?
I said, well, okay, maybe.
And we put up this meeting, and this guy says, okay, well, the thing is, we got this new Polaroid camera, and you can do a light painting in it.
I said, yeah, okay, I'm in.
Because I thought, well, Polaroids are in the moment pictures, you know?
You can't, well, everybody knows a Polaroid.
And now this Polaroid can make a light painting as well.
So I was like, okay, I'm all in.
So that's what happened, and this is like...
Wow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Naive.
Another collaboration, it was a DM from China, and they said, okay, we wanted to collaborate with you, we're a company, we have a lot of artists in our company, and we represent them, and one of our clients, a big client, he wants to work with you, and do you want to collaborate?
And I was like, okay, wow.
Oh, yeah, serious shit, okay.
So then I called some people that are lawyers and everything, I thought, well, I really want to know up front what I'm going to expect.
China is a different kind of market, I don't know anything about China, the market of China, and everybody was like, no, you shouldn't do this.
Oh, no, and even if they pay, they will pay like way beyond...
And copyright, copyright, difficult, very difficult.
So I was like, fuck.
First I was like, wow, this company really wants to work with me?
Naive.
And I thought, well, fuck it, I'm going into this meeting, and we will see.
So I went, I said, okay, set up a meeting, and I'm going in, and I was there in the meeting, and they say, okay, well, it's very nice that you want to do this collaboration.
We are working on this Dwayne Waite, he's an ex-NBA prof basketball player, he's now in the Hall of Fame, I think, but he has this brand, it's called Wow, Way of Waite, and he said, well, what we want to do, we want you to collaborate with this brand, and make stuff for it.
Are you up for it?
I said, yeah, okay.
And the next thing was, the cool part, was he said, okay, do you have any ideas how we could take your art, and get it together with the Way of Waite brand?
I was like, oh, wow, you really want me to think about the concept, you don't want to just take some things that I did, some drawings, and put it on a t-shirt, and then, okay, it's done?
No, no, we want you really to integrate.
I was like, okay, cool.
And this is one of the slides that I had in the presentation, and I thought, the World of Waite is wow, but it would be cool if you flip it, and you have moments.
And I explained to them what moment meant to me, and that I thought, well, basketball is very much a game, I'm not a basketball player, I'm not going to show how basketball players will.
I want to now, but I will not.
But it's very in the moment game.
Those last seconds, you can make a score, and it's like, wow.
So I told them about it, and I also told them about it, they used We Are One, and I said, well, okay, it's kind of outdated, We Are One, but I like We Are One planet, with 7.8 billion worlds, that's my concept, and maybe we could do something about it.
They said, okay, well, thank you, very nice.
So what I did, I did make these taglines, Way of Waite, these are some artworks from the presentation, this is the World as One line, but then with Waite stuff in it.
This is another one, not all of them went through, but this is a collage of everything, one that was filled up, and then they showed me this.
And I was like, wow, I really wanted this one.
And they found it very, you want this one?
Yeah, I really want it.
No, but this is the collection that I had in mind, but then COVID came, so we don't need to give it much attention, so we said, okay, that's it.
But eventually they came up with a collection, and it's a very small collection, but...
So I think that's it.
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Thank you.
Thank you.
I made the video myself.
They would have done it much better.
So the credits are not there.
But then this happened.
I was like, okay, so half the collection didn't work out, and then they came up with this.
We Are One Planet is another one, and this thing.
They made a shoe, and the shoe is called Bowmans.
And I was like, fuck, this is great.
And I was amazed.
I was like, this is a collaboration from a concept, and I really would like to have this Bowmans thing out in the world.
And people use it already, of course, but it's not like a thing that I claim.
But I thought, okay, everybody who can use it is willing.
And it has my designs on it and everything, and it's a logo kind of thing.
So I was like, wow, this is very cool.
I really like it.
But let's go back to the beginning.
When I was Niamh and I thought, okay, well, China, maybe it's difficult, because everybody said, let me tell you this.
I never have worked for a company that has so much trust in the people.
And they're taking so much care of their artists, and treating them with respect.
They said, okay, we need to have hang tags.
We need to have your name on it, and your belief on it.
Because we want to get it out in the world.
Not just the graphics, but also the concept and the idea.
It would be an honor to have you with the collection itself.
And I was like, okay, that's really wild.
And today, well, I'm very proud that this happened.
And I'm very glad that I'm such a naive guy.
Anyways, the next one.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Very good question.
Yeah.
Very well also.
So it was also on time.
Yeah, yeah, thank you.
Yeah, the moment that I had the presentation, they said, okay, send out half of the invoice, and the other one you will get when it's done.
And they, quickly.
Everybody said, okay, you just, be one kind, you need to be an individual, be one kind.
Be one of a kind, sorry.
But I like to take out the middle one and say, be kind.
I really like this.
And this story is about, there's this guy, he's a singer-songwriter.
And he has this song, Mr. Help Me Out.
He's a Dutch singer-songwriter.
And he has this song, and I heard it for the first time, it was four years ago, I heard it for the first time, and I was blown away.
It really got to me, and I think I even was crying.
But in a good way, you know, it was very balanced, not like heavy shit, but it was cool.
And I had the intention, I really want to share it with him.
So I looked him up on Instagram and I told him how I thought about that song.
And I was like, wow, amazing, it still is one of my favorite songs made by a Dutchman.
And he immediately responded, oh, that's very kind of you, thank you very much, and that's it.
And then he started following me, and then I never heard from him again.
And that's okay, because that was not my intention.
I just wanted to give him this positive feeling, because it's nice, he made something, and you touch somebody else, so that's cool.
But then this year, he contacted me and said, hey, remember me?
Yeah, of course.
I want you to do my new album art cover.
Are you willing to do this collaboration?
I said, wow, yeah, that's amazing, cool, okay.
And he explained to me what the album is about, and I can't let you listen to the music, because it will be released at the end of the year.
But he explained what the album was about, and I don't want to explain that as well.
Keeping it a secret.
But I showed him some, I have this technique that I use, and I use a glass, and then I put some acrylics on it, and I start drawing and drawing and drawing, and keep on drawing, and then there's this face that appears, and then it slowly evolves into a next one, and a next one, and a next one, the concept of it's gone in a second, it's not there anymore, and it turns into somebody else.
So I showed it to him, and he said, wow, that would be awesome.
So what I did is that, this is the setup in my studio.
This is the song, Mr. Help Me Out.
And, yeah, kind of disrespectful, but I cut it off somewhere in the beginning.
These are the chairs.
The mascots.
The mascots.
Yeah, well, it's disrespectful, I know, but...
Anyways, what you're seeing here is 40 minutes of continuous drawing, and I did two sessions in one day, and I can tell you, I'm done after those kind of drawings.
But anyways, I will show you the results.
The music that's underneath it is not his music, but I really want to share with you, because it's very fresh.
I think this is one thing I made a week ago.
If you could maybe dim the lights a little bit.
This is a sample of the song.
Confusing my brain All of the ways I can take That look on your face Oh, if you would be my guide to escape Oh, if you would be my guide to be right Oh, if you would be my guide to escape Oh, if you would be my guide to be right Oh, if you would be my guide to escape And that's it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We realized when seeing this, because there are words from this last week, so what I really like is that I can't reproduce it exactly anymore.
And that's the thing that it's so much like in the times when you have AI, you have stuff that can replicate everything, but yeah, that's amazing.
Final moment, and I want to take you back a long time ago.
Oh, not so long time ago.
When I was the age of 12.
The age of 12, and I had this dream.
And that's where the name Salventius was made, was brought to me, I should say.
It's a dream, so anything can happen, so no judgment, no judgment.
It's this dream.
I was in this metro station, as you can see.
This is made with Dali.
I'm not good at photoshopping.
I was at this metro station, and well, some happened, it was like this, it was desolated and everything, and inside it was this large sinkhole.
And I was like, wow, and I walked towards it, and then suddenly jumped out two werewolves wearing wrestling suits.
It's college wrestling suits, one red and one blue.
And they looked like these demon figures, you know, the stupid ones.
And there was, outside of the sinkhole, somebody was calling the name Salventius.
True story.
And the thing is that I never forgot about the dream, and from that day on I thought, wow, that's a cool name, Salventius.
I'm going to use it.
And I did, and every time when I needed a game attack, or I needed something like a pseudo or something, I used it and everything.
And then the thing is that finally, when internet came, I googled Salventius, and first there were no hits, but a few years later there was a hit, because Salventius seems to be this guy from Italy in 650 AD, and he holds the name Salventius.
And I was like, okay, this is very scary.
So I thought, well, I don't think he's going to sue me.
So I took a URL and I took a Twitter account and an Instagram account using the name Salventius, and until that day, you can kind of say that I made my dream come true, because I'm standing here like Salventius, and that's the thing that happened, and I'm really glad it did.
Anyways, I'm going to round up.
My time is up, I'm sorry.
I'm going to round up very quickly.
The thing is, this I wrote, and I have a mixed feeling about it, because it's a broad statement.
Hours are being scheduled.
It's not really true, but it's kind of true, I think.
And if you think of it, I think, yeah, well, we should really enjoy these moments more.
And, well, that's a big thing, right?
You should live your day, every day if it's your last day, and it's impossible.
You can't do this.
That's a high standard for each day.
It would get me very anxious.
But I thought, well, but there is a thing about it, and that's where the moment as a lost art came from.
Because I think that what I've been learning is that with my work, I always try to get more to the moment, to focus more into the moment.
And I thought, well, the results are something that will prove to me that I did.
But, well, this year I looked back and I thought, well, it's not the thing.
It was the making of videos or the process that was before what happened.
And it was also the thing that happened before the process.
It's the thing that I took my tank with water to a place where I wanted to make a drawing.
That was something I couldn't make up.
That was being in the moment and being this.
And another thing about the moment, what I really like, is that it's not like these things don't happen and they don't have these neon signs on them that say, look, you really should do this because later on you will be happy about it.
And that's the beauty of it.
And what I also think is that the moment is not a quick win.
It's not like, okay, now I want something.
Oh, wow, look, I'm in the moment and I'm getting these treats.
And it's cool because that would be easy.
I really think those kind of things need to have time.
Like I needed time in these 10 years to come to realize what I was doing to help me to get further and to be more proud of my work and enjoy my work, have more fun, and also know that it means something to other people.
But it was what I picked up, carried with me, but not knowing it at that exact time.
Another thing is that I never dared to call myself an artist.
Nowadays I do.
I say it very quickly.
What do you do?
I'm an artist.
And then it didn't happen.
But I think I really love what I do.
And I think other people should call me an artist if they want to, but I couldn't decide it for myself.
So that's the thing.
But I thought about, okay, wow, what does art mean to me?
And it means to me this.
And I'm going to read it out loud because it's kind of a thing for me.
I found art is the purest form of communication.
It doesn't force you to believe it's the truth.
Very important.
It's not the news.
It's not like, look, buddy, this is the truth.
No, it's just, it's something.
I think that's a moment on its own.
And you can pick it up, you can carry it with you, and later on you can, wow, that's something.
And for me, what is also amazing, it's like it's touching someone's thoughts.
You can literally touch somebody.
Think of it.
The thing that you do.
And you don't need to paint.
You can also, spoken word, it's a word that you can send out and you can touch somebody.
Art.
Wow.
And maybe I'm late to the party.
Maybe everybody knows about it.
But this is my thing.
It can change, challenge, construct, complement.
It can crush.
It's up to you.
It's your responsibility as an artist what you want to do with it.
And it's only, that's the beauty, it only resonates, it only communicates with you when it hits you.
So that's what I really like about art, and that's what I thought, okay, well, cool.
I'm an artist.
If this art, then I'm an artist.
And I try to use this title to be in the moment and to continue doing my work.
That was it for now.
Thank you.
Applause.
Music.
