About the artist
With my mother from England and my father from Holland, I spent my childhood in Australia until I came to Switzerland with my family in 2012 when I was 16 years old. We lived in Cordast in the canton of Fribourg. There I attended the Gymnasium Heilig Kreuz and then the Pädagogische Hochschule in Bern (IVP NMS). Since August 2021 I live in Au in the canton of Zurich.
Already as a child I drew a lot. Earlier I drew comic and manga characters and in the holidays I sketched landscapes. I started in 2017 with portraits, and have been focussing on this more intensively since 2020. I work mainly with photos as a template. I am inspired by my grandfather, who was a painting enthusiast, as well as by works by Franz Gertsch, Jopie Huisman and Leonardo Da Vinci. I learned my skills through self-study as well as art classes in school and at teacher training college.
My favorite thing to draw is natural but not necessarily average scenes. I'm fascinated by how the pencil is so simple as an object, but at the same time allows you to bring a blank piece of paper to life.
"... (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)-
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
Article in the British magazine "Artists and Illustrators" (October issue 2022)
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
Article in the Wädenswiler Anzeiger
March 2022, by Ingrid Eva Liedtke
