Peter Blokhuis (1938) won the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation Prize in 2010. The city of Marrakech in Morocco has long served as a source of inspiration for Peter Blokhuis, and so he chose it as the destination for his inspiration journey.
Part of the Inspiration series, the book featuring Peter’s work entitled, Peter Blokhuis in Marrakech, was written by John Sillevis and published by Waanders. Peter’s exhibition was on display between 28 October and 5 December 2010 in Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen.
Painter and illustrator, Peter Blokhuis from The Hague, is best known for his depictions of the street scene. The themes for his illustrations and paintings are drawn from his many trips around the world, as well as that which lies around the corner from his studio in The Hague.
Peter draws on the streets: in coffee houses (often in a faraway country); in ravaged neighborhoods in Beirut; the waiting area of Grand Central Station in New York; a homeless shelter; the Hoefkade in The Hague. These are places where the people he wants to depict remain, more or less, motionless. “After an hour of drawing, I can also take pictures—not too flashy.”
Peter: “I don’t make comfortable, pleasant, accessible art. The peaceful silence in a street I depict, or a view from a hotel window, is only an illusion. There is always a threat of chaos and disruption, which could strike at any moment. The smell of impermanence is omnipresent. I paint contemporary society.”
In his studio in The Hague, Peter continues the work in his chosen medium. New drawings emerge, in which he also incorporates the remains of posters he has collected. Sometimes these drawings foreshadow future paintings, but possess an independent character: his autonomous works.
His ultimate travel destination is Marrakech, an ideal source of inspiration for him. However picturesque and idyllic the outward appearance of this North African society may seem, Peter is guided by the complex political and religious contradictions and, in fact, paints testimonies of human drama. His works paint a confronting picture of the unknown side of this colorful city. Blokhuis can be found near the Mosque of the Blind, among the tanners, in a remote square where fortune-tellers make their predictions, or in the hushed Jewish cemetery. The people he draws live on the fringes of society. Peter records their poverty, hopeless waiting, resignation and loneliness.
Peter: “In 1962 I stayed in the city of Marrakech, Morocco. I often drew on the street and in the Jewish cemetery, which was located next to my studio. At that time, the outcasts of society lived in that cemetery: madmen, old people, orphans. The poorest lived there in a few small houses and spent their time among the graves. Here, I could draw fairly undisturbed. I later went back to that place quite often to work again.
“In retrospect, the stay in Marrakech had a major influence on my career as an artist. I always painted subjects that embodied something poignant: the transience of life. That is what runs like a thread through my work. Guest-workers in the Netherlands, homeless people in New York, people waiting in coffee houses, victims of war violence…The performances radiate silence, a silence that can suddenly be disturbed.”
Painter and illustrator, Peter Blokhuis from The Hague, is best known for his depictions of the street scene. The themes for his illustrations and paintings are drawn from his many trips around the world, as well as that which lies around the corner from his studio in The Hague.
Peter draws on the streets: in coffee houses (often in a faraway country); in ravaged neighborhoods in Beirut; the waiting area of Grand Central Station in New York; a homeless shelter; the Hoefkade in The Hague. These are places where the people he wants to depict remain, more or less, motionless. “After an hour of drawing, I can also take pictures—not too flashy.”
Peter: “I don’t make comfortable, pleasant, accessible art. The peaceful silence in a street I depict, or a view from a hotel window, is only an illusion. There is always a threat of chaos and disruption, which could strike at any moment. The smell of impermanence is omnipresent. I paint contemporary society.”
In his studio in The Hague, Peter continues the work in his chosen medium. New drawings emerge, in which he also incorporates the remains of posters he has collected. Sometimes these drawings foreshadow future paintings, but possess an independent character: his autonomous works.
His ultimate travel destination is Marrakech, an ideal source of inspiration for him. However picturesque and idyllic the outward appearance of this North African society may seem, Peter is guided by the complex political and religious contradictions and, in fact, paints testimonies of human drama. His works paint a confronting picture of the unknown side of this colorful city. Blokhuis can be found near the Mosque of the Blind, among the tanners, in a remote square where fortune-tellers make their predictions, or in the hushed Jewish cemetery. The people he draws live on the fringes of society. Peter records their poverty, hopeless waiting, resignation and loneliness.
Peter: “In 1962 I stayed in the city of Marrakech, Morocco. I often drew on the street and in the Jewish cemetery, which was located next to my studio. At that time, the outcasts of society lived in that cemetery: madmen, old people, orphans. The poorest lived there in a few small houses and spent their time among the graves. Here, I could draw fairly undisturbed. I later went back to that place quite often to work again.
“In retrospect, the stay in Marrakech had a major influence on my career as an artist. I always painted subjects that embodied something poignant: the transience of life. That is what runs like a thread through my work. Guest-workers in the Netherlands, homeless people in New York, people waiting in coffee houses, victims of war violence…The performances radiate silence, a silence that can suddenly be disturbed.”
