Diederick kraaijeveld biography for kids

I do not know all these stories but usually, I am able to feel the history of each piece of wood. As a historian, I try to use wood that has something to do with the subject. When it is a portrait, I try to use wood from the life of that person: the hockey-stick of the woman that died too early, the handle of the rifle of the man that hunts, a wooden piece of the house where someone did hide from the Germans during the Second World War, for example.

So with a lot of wood to work with, how do you decide on what to create? You have recently recreated Manhattan — how did that come about? I had to have a few water tower beams to create something that had to do with New York. To make a long story short, two years later a sea freight container arrived in Holland, filled with beams of NYC water towers.

Beautiful wood that would have been thrown away.

Diederick kraaijeveld biography for kids

He built some amazing furniture, I did my foot Manhattan sculpture and some other New York inspired pieces. And we still had almost beams left! As I like realistic art, I like to create pieces that people can recognize instantly. It is always good to be open to what happens in the world and also the art world. Every artist is inspired by everything, also other artists.

The upper, main part of his studio is both the workshop, office, storage, and the space where he keeps collections of different items and memorabilia — from vintage signs and parts that he picks up during his travel, furniture made of old plane parts, globes, an impressive selection of vintage mug shots, to his latest collection of old pneumatic tools.

These are the kinds of things that Kraaijeveld is interested in, so when creating his work he is not only focused in getting the piece to match the original image, but also, including a bit of its history in it. As a historian and journalist, he likes to connect the history of the material used with the subject he is working on. For example he used the pieces of wood from Kenya when creating a portrait of Obamaand that is now hanging in the US embassy in Den Hague.

Deze opvallende arrangementen, van ongerepte en onregelmatige houtoppervlakken, laten hun geschiedenis doorschijnen. Van veraf behoudt het werk zijn realisme; van dichtbij wordt de tovenarij van de kunstenaar onthuld. Het is van dichtbij dat men de enorme hoeveelheid werk en precisie kan zien. Working predominantly from photographs he takes himself, each piece is hand carved and assembled using reclaimed, genuine colored wood that Diederick scavenges himself during his daytrips around his native Holland and travels around the world.

He gets tipped frequently when centuries old floors his favorite material because of the history and the natural patina of ages are torn out of buildings all over The Netherlands. Painted wooded planks, flooring from old mansions and rural farmhouses have all found a place in his work. When asked if there is a favorite wood he is drawn to, Diederick is quick to point of that colour is the leading factor when sourcing material.

A single work can consist of over a hundred different pieces of color, and therefore over a hundred different pieces of wood, giving his sculptures its unique perspective and irregular surface. Diederick only uses the wood in the colours that he finds them. He does not use any paint at all.