About the artist
With my mother from England and my father from Holland, I spent my childhood in Australia and have been in Switzerland since 2012. I'm based in Wädenswil, Zurich.
Drawing is something I've been doing since I was a child, and it's evolved quite a lot over my life. I started with drawings of mangas, then drawings of faces and now drawings of scenes of people complete with backgrounds and interactions between people.
I'm very interested in showing people in public spaces because everyone is the same and everyone reacts differently in public spaces. On the other hand, there are also similarities that can be drawn between people's behaviour in public spaces. What's more, people's behaviour in public spaces has been greatly influenced in recent years by technology, particularly mobile phones, which are often featured in my drawings.
A second aim behind my drawings is to use everyday situations to show the value of moments in life and the beauty that can be found in small everyday moments.
As well as the reasons explained, it's also the medium that really interests me: This medium is very old, almost like the drawings on cave walls made by cavemen and cavewomen. It's fascinating that such an old-fashioned practice can still be practised today in contrast to the technology of artificial intelligence and photography.
Article in the French magazine "Pratique des Arts" (October issue 2023)
Article in the British magazine "Artists and Illustrators" (October issue 2022)
Featured in the Artventurous magazine at the "Art Basel Miami Beach 2023"
More information on "Art Basel Miami Beach": https://www.artbasel.com/miami-beach
"... (the artist) is persistent and tenacious to the point of
being deeply respectful of the people he draws because
he has reverential respect for them since for him they are
beings committed to the dynamics of life, fulfilling their
role perfectly."
Born to an English mother and a Dutch father, educated
in Australia, he moved to live with his family at the age of
16 in Switzerland, the country in which he currently resides.
His experiences in different countries and continents
give him a component of internationalization of his works
made in pencil.
It is detailed but reflects general components of the object
of its interest, delving into its interior, showing aspects that
have more to do with its feelings, or with its thoughts than
with superfluous details of its exterior. In other words, he
is capable of delving into the characters that he reflects in
his work to the point of connecting with them in an atmic
way. They are full of life, but also of emotions and feelings
that prevail over other considerations.
I would highlight his ability to distance himself from
everything that does not contribute anything to the composition,
although presumably, it could embellish it. For
this reason, he is persistent and tenacious to the point of
being deeply respectful of the people he draws because
he has reverential respect for them since for him they are
beings committed to the dynamics of life, fulfilling their
role perfectly.
Joan Lluís Montané
-De la Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte (AICA)-
1st place - World’s Best Contemporary Graphite, Charcoal, Ink Artists (Article on medium.com): 2023
https://thombierd.medium.com/world-art-awards-winners-in-graphite-ink-charcoal-figure-terpstra-walters-dutemps-hui-165583906d25
3rd place - World’s Best Contemporary Graphite, Charcoal, Ink Artists (Article on medium.com): 2022
https://thombierd.medium.com/worlds-best-contemporary-graphite-charcoal-ink-artists-ayodele-morris-straska-hui-terpstra-b1f6e720855a