Featured Artist Irene Hoff

Artist Irene Hoff blends a variety of mixed media with vivid color and intricate detail to create dramatic and intriguing works. Visit her website for more information.

 

 

I was born in Drachten in the Netherlands. I experience life as an exciting journey full of playful winks and clues, giving me daily doses of insight. I learned to open my eyes and look for the unexpected and the expected.

 

 

I feel that we are losing the authenticity of who we really are and that we lose our balance. Once we lose our stability, we lose our freedom and life damages our bodies, our souls and eventually our planet.

 

 

My art reflects my personality—my lightness, curiosity, humour, perceptiveness, authenticity and positivism, that drive me to support people in seeing the bigger picture and understanding the roles each of us play. My art collections are illustrative for my growth in life and my emotional drivers.

 

 

For me, art is a way of communication, a bridge between my inner voice and the outer world. My art is not only a visual way of expression, but a means of transferring energy and insights to the person attracted to my work.

 

 

Vivid colors and a unique compilation of styles and visual elements—for example, pictures, cartoons, symbols, signs and words—are often the basis for my authentic collage-pop-art-kind-of-style. I work with mixed media, using acrylic on canvas, uplifted with colorful printed patterns on special coated paper.

 

 

I love to work with large-scale pieces to create a big impact. I will help advise the client on the style that suits their environment and will incorporate personal influences, interiors, lifestyles and my client’s beliefs to create the perfect match.

 

 

My latest series is called Don’t blow my cover and illustrates my view on how people hold on to what they know best—to what is there—even if it is not serving them. I strongly believe we are all born with a majestic internal guiding system. Throughout life, we tend to fill our headspace with the opinions of others. It affects our vision, and slowly becomes our truth—but is it?

 

 

In this series, I visualize how people get stuck in their own beliefs and the beliefs of others, how coloured their view is on life, how opinions influence individuals and how it is affecting the body. I also express hope by showing the support that is always available to us and the tools that can be used to make us more aware.

 

 

Animals play the main role in my thematic collection—Animal Extravaganza. By surrounding the animals with colourful elements and materials, they become more visible. It is a cheerful collection with a wink, and stresses my belief in a dream world where everything is possible. Picasso once said, “Everything you can imagine is real.” Stop thinking in boundaries, free the limited self, connect with a child’s mind and you will be able to create and be limitless.

 

 

In my series—Animal extinction, I give species threatened by extinction a real voice. Based on the work of photojournalist Paul Hilton, I surround the animals with figures telling the audience that they are running out of stock. I integrate colourful elements and materials, enlarging the beauty of the endangered species. One of my wildlife paintings was signed by “Nature Warrior” Leonardo DiCaprio and sold in an auction. All proceeds went to the Wild Life Asia Organization.

 

Artist Irene Hoff invites you to follow her on Instagram.

 

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