“Quite soon after getting used to spend most of the time driving, and getting a nice tan on the left side of my face, I was struck by the diversity of the nature in Los Angeles. I stumbled upon an amazing amount of plants I only ever saw before in movies like Jurassic Park and Jumanji. I was expecting a few palm trees, but mostly concrete. Boy was I wrong. I was also – of course – expecting a David Hockney painting. Back home I gaze at his works mostly in the sticky paged books I own, so this was something I was looking forward to. When I arrived at the LACMA on my fifth day, I was finally confronted with Hockney’s ‘Mulholland Drive: Road to the Studio’. I have been to the Hockney show in London, and also to the one in Cologne, but seeing this work in its natural habitat, made me almost go full retard singing the Bohemian Rhapsody.

Besides enjoying the whole lot of LA, I sat down many times, to work. And with that I mean I sat down many times, mostly in the sun, mostly with a cold drink, drawing a lot. I made a lot of drawings in – as I like to call it – crooked perspective. I looked at the most simple objects like chairs or tables or cars, and drew them without considering dimensions, perspective or usability. The inverted perspective we all know from David Hockney was a big influence here. From all the drawings I made, this chair in crooked perspective was the one drawing that I kept looking back at. In the end, although the nature over there really struck me, I decided to not go for a plant (for once) and use the chair for my screen print. So take the chair, sit down, and start drawing.”

Travel diary

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Packing my bags for the trip to Los Angeles! Follow me this week on the website of The Jaunt.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

So far my trip to Los Angeles for The Jaunt is hugely enjoyable. Mom if you are reading this, the weather is great and I am eating my vegetables. Dad if you are reading this, I rented a simple and safe Toyota Yaris. Jesse if you are reading this, you are beautiful and I carry you around in my thoughts and I am buying a lot of books and there is no way you can stop me from over there.

Simply put, a car is needed here. Mister Hockney explained this in his publication ‘That’s the way I see it’ (page 50 if I remember correctly) “in Europe the buildings are created with pedestrians in mind, in Los Angeles everything is built to be looked at from a slow-moving car.” And now this is the way I saw it too. Although, of course, my car is anyhting but slow. Badabing, Badaboom.

The last few months, I stumbled upon the work of Ben Sanders a couple of time and enjoyed looking at it. With a little bit of help from Mark Zuckerberg, Ben and I started chatting a bit lately.

After driving around in an around the city (finally without the humiliating Dunce Hat) my first stop was at Ben’s studio. It was a pleasure meeting him, his painting friend, his photographing friend, his friend from the Slow Culture Gallery and his wonderful wive Ashley.

Back home, hate to admit, I have a hard time getting up in the morning. If it was not for Bell waiting to go out, I easily sleep the day away. Over here, maybe because of the jet lag, I am fully awake around 07:00 in the morning. For two days in a row I actually was the first one having breakfast and the first one making A Bigger Splash.

Swimming laps. Lot’s of laps. Having in mind that I will be visiting Muscle Beach, and - to quote Patrick Bateman - just want to fit in.

I know, I know, it’s the Eifeltower of Los Angeles, but I have a weakness for the hardcore touristic spots, and everything Disney related. Had to pay a visit.

No sign of Steve Carell unfortunately.

When I haunted the corridors of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, I almost drowned in the old photographs of people working out. It inspired me to do some sketches of figures in good shape.

The first day ended just as I end my days back home. Seinfeld on repeat and drawing. I just used Google translate to figure out how to tell the people from the hotel I made ‘vieze verf vlekken op de vloerbedekking’.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Again, rarely I woke up before my Phone tried to wake me. I took some pictures on my way to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Something I noticed in NY grabbed my attention again here in LA. Reflecting sunlight. As the taller buildings are often mostly glass on the outside, a lot of sunlight reflects around. I noticed people walking around having multiple shadows. Like soccer players on a soccer field at night with the stadium lights on.

To me this picture gives the impression of being taken on a movie set. It appears there are Hollywood like studio-lights highlighting different parts of the set. The scene even has an actor in it, most likely one without a star on Hollywood Boulevard.

Back home I have a complicated relationship with my computer. We do get along but every now and then I just need to pull its plug and get some air. Taking my dog to the woods is the best excuse, as she still makes a mess of my toilet no matter what I try. Knowing the names of most of the other dogs in the woods proves I visit the place quite a lot. As a result I am pretty used to seeing the nature in the city center of The Hague.

Over here it’s a completely different story. It feels to me as if every street has a different set of palms and cacti, flowers and bushes, weed and trees. Even the plants growing near the sides of the roads amaze me. There are plants I have never seen before, and I wonder if you ever get used to a rich nature like this.

Another example of reflective light that seems to be coming in from every direction. Hope there are no cars melting over here though.

The MOCA opened a little bit later then expected so there was time for more walking around and I came across this artwork by Nancy Graves, located near the Wells Fargo Bank downtown.

Peeking trough what I believe was te side entrance of the Bank, i noticed another work, one by the Spanish artist - an one of my fav’s - Joan Miro. A sculpture in red, blue, yellow and green. It probably goes without saying that I am excited by his use of color.

O dear. The MOCA store opened thirty minutes before the museum opened its doors. Besides some of my favorite painters like Hopper, Hodgkin, Haring and Halley there is another good reason to walk directly to the ‘H’ section in every bookstore.

Over the last few years I have collected quite a few books of David Hockney, and if I gave Jesse as much as attention as those books receive, i would probably be married by now ;-) I read them till I fall asleep, and buy one if I see one. To quote Hugh Grant in Notting Hill: ‘It’s a disease I’ve got. It’s a clinical thing. I’m taking pills and having injections’.

My adventure to the 356 Mission and the Ooga Booga Bookstore number #2 was fun. Besides ‘hey men do you have spare change’ word on the street is that this new gallery is one of the coolest.

Right now Alex Katz is on show and certainly worth a view. His paintings are sized gigantic. Hanging big works in a big space always works very well. I was surprised how long it actually took me to reach on of the paintings when I walked towards it. Half way I doubted if I should have taken the car. Thanks Ben for the tip!

My favorite flowers are well represented in LA. We need more of those in The Hague. Remember kids: don’t lean against them accidentally when trying to find keys in a ridiculously packed backpack. Flying for twelve hours is a bit less comfortable with needles in your neck. 🌵

Besides having an actual Tesla Coil, the Griffith Observatory is almost worth visiting only because of the view on the city. Ever since I ended up following NASA’s journey to Mars for weeks, I am addicted to everything space related. At the end of the day I went to see the show ‘Centered in the Universe’. I found out I am not the center of the Universe. And did you guys know we are actually rotating around the sun instead of the other way around? All jokes aside, witnessing the Zeiss star projector working is quite the experience.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Today I started the day early and headed for Venice. After two days Downtown I thought it was time for the beach. Before getting ice-cream, some sunlight and sand between my buttocks I visited LA Louver. LA louver focusses on contemporary art and they represent quite some notable artists including David Hockney. I had a nice chat with the people there. Bonus points for guessing the subject of conversation. I was shown around and ended up in the office upstairs, where they had a Hockney hanging in full glory. The moment I noticed everybody was wearing suits and I was walking around in my swimming pants only, I decided it was time to leave. Buying two more publications by DH on my way out.

After training my eyes in gallery LA Louver I trained my muscles on the beach. That’s right. Muscle Beach. If you look carefully you can spot me in the middle wearing blue shorts.

Fond of artists that have used - or are using - the cigaret as a topic, I had to pay a visit to the sculpture of Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen. In recent history, not everybody appreciated great artists working together with their wives (I am not looking at you Yoko Ono). In this case Claes and Coosje did a great job and produced amazing sculptures together. #apples #oranges

While the water certainly was, the sky wasn’t colored Pacific Ocean Blue. Luckily there is a lot of other stuff you can do at the beach. Being twice the size of the other kids in the roller coaster cart, I still enjoyed the ride. I really have to stop listening to these songs while doing stuff, but playing Simply Red’s Fairground while sticking out of the cart with the entire upper half of my human body was something completely different. I also had a pier burger.

After the beach I briefly visited the Eames Office and headed for Mulholland Drive. It was a pleasure to drive there. In daylight I drove around thinking of Hockney’s work titled ‘Mulholland Drive: The Road To The Studio’.

Around 1980 Hockney found himself living up in the Hollywood Hills and painting in his studio down the hills. This made that he was often traveling back and forth, sometimes multiple times on one day. This perception of Los Angeles is translated directly into the painting. When you look at the work, according to DH your eyes move around the painting at about the same speed as a car driving along the road.

Back in the hotel room I eagerly connected to the wifi and searched for a stream of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. I have to admit I had not seen this since I was a kid, and driving around in the Hills at night, after seeing the movie, was an interesting experience.

If I do not win the Academy Award for Best Corny Picture with this one I don’t know what to do anymore. The beach was great, had a long Ocean Front Walk and did some doodling. Both enjoying running after drawings in the wind and the impressive pacific view. Drawing while listening to ‘Take my Breath Away’ almost overdid it a bit here. 

Saturday, April 26, 2013

Tricked by the magic of wide angle photography while booking, I woke up in a room slightly smaller then expected. Woke up in the middleI found myself in the middle of Hollywood. The only place where you can see stars by looking up, looking around, and looking at the sidewalk. Being hungry and thirsty at exactly the same moment, I had reason enough to walk around a bit on a quest for things to swallow. Lot’s of buildings I recognised from the movies. I almost felt home. Every time old people passed me by I observed them closely hoping to recognise old movie stars.

Compared to home Los Angeles feels already like a botanical garden to me. It’s hard not to enjoy the rich nature over here. Though I went to visit a botanical garden inside a botanical garden. I visited the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden nestled into the hills near the San Gabriel Mountains. As you can imagine it took me several minutes to enter this in my navigation system. After growing a beard I entered the garden which had plants grouped by geography. I was lucky enough not to encounter any clever girls in the prehistoric jungle area.

One day before I took the plane / the plane took me to LA, I digitally met with the owner of the LA based monthly pop-up gallery ‘Either Way’. She made a picture of somebody else’s shirt with my drawing on it, and posted it online. A Dutch artist recognised my work and placed a comment. Then I clicked on a heart or a thumb, and I was connected with Julia within seconds. Try explaining this to a dog. Today I visited Julia, and she showed me her gallery and extremely old dog. I don’t remember correctly but I think it actually was older then me. If only he had my wisdom. Julia and I are currently in the stage of negotiation about the contents and concept of a possible exhibition. Or in dog language: Preparing a show.

Dokter Jaunt Jeroen Smeets himself pointed out a part of the east coast to me, definitely worth visiting. Boy was he right. It took me quite a bit of time to drive to the Crystal Cove Beach Cottages. After my arrival I helped a Jim Carryish Lil’ Old’ Lady’ with her bike, earning some Karma Points and a pink hammer. I arrived at the beach and was surrounded by old beach Cottages. They looked so old, it made me check the date on my watch just to be sure I didn’t accidentally travel backwards. No matter how wonderful the location was, I found out the same rules can be applied to this beach as any other beach; Do not drink sea water, it actually makes you more thirsty.

After redecorating my third and last hotel I drove back to the city. A new friend overseas told me about the exhibition of Roger Herman opening tonight. Mostly a Vernissage means a lot of fresh art, dressed up folks and free alcoholic beverages. Reasons enough to roll down Wilshire Boulevard to visit ACME Gallery. Afterwards I took a little detour back to the hotel while enjoying the jolly melodies of Tupac. Suddenly I was stunned by bright and loud explosions. I figured there where only two options here. Either another world war started and the army is using pink, purple, blue and green explosives, or I was - of course - driving next to the home of Mortimer Mouse.

Sunday, April 27, 2013

Just like the bulk of my generation the first full-length animated films I saw where those of Disney. They certainly left a great impression on me as a kid. I remember sitting next to the television with the remote in my hand, pausing Alladin, and drawing from the screen. I could not resist visiting Disneyland. Again, and miraculously, I woke up around seven and entered the park with some other early birds. While I was the only one not wearing black circles on my head, I had a great time. However, if you plan to visit, do not eat an entire bag of skittles right before you enter Space Mountain. Or, after eating the entire bag, make sure you bring the empty packaging with you. Might come in handy.
Around noon it was getting busier. There where so many mothers with strollers everywhere, I decided not to blink my eyes anymore just to stop stumbling over them. When I tried to order a ticket for a small cinema featuring Steamboat Willy I realised I was talking to a lady made entirely out of carbon fiber, I decided to escape the park for a while.

This morning I blared myself a pneumothorax on Big Thunder Mountain. To be honest also on Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and inside the Haunted House. Though, the attraction I enjoyed the most today was the cable pulled hovertrain to the campus of the Getty Museum on the Santa Monica Mountains. The hovertrain (happy to use a word like this two times in a paragraph) takes visitors from the parking lot down the hill to the Museum entrance on top of the hill. Had the pleasure to chat for a while with the personnel of the bookstore after a long walk in the Central Garden. The visit’s finale took place at the mural by Jackson Pollock, which I enjoyed almost as much as the view over LA.

Visiting Disneyland in the morning, Getty Hill around noon, and the LACMA in the afternoon is no challenge with a challenger. Earning my USA drivers license a couple of years ago in San Andreas, I was able to bend both time and space today, enjoying all of my destinations. I focussed so much on the fact I just missed the video installation of Hockney at the LACMA, that I forgot all about his painting in the permanent collection. With the press of a button a small steel cabin brought me to the fourth floor of the American collection and there she was. Hanging in full glory. Hockney’s Mulholland Drive: Road to the Studio. My heart was weeping and my blatter was leaking. I have been to the Hockney show in London, and also to the one in Cologne, but seeing this one right here, made me almost go full retard singing the Bohemian Rapsody. And yes, before you ask, after being shot nine times, this is indeed my happy face.

Monday, April 28, 2013

After leaving Hotel Tropicana (don’t ask) I went directly to the MOCA located in Little Tokyo, currently showing the largest exhibition of Mike Kelley’s work to date. Organized by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam I almost felt obligated to go and see the show. Absolutely enjoyed the versatile and spacious exhibition of Kelly’s work, that discovered soon after his demise. Normally I am not a huge fan of video installations in a museum or gallery, as I never know when the thing started playing, how long it will be playing, and if I miss out on sound. I remember visiting the MACBA in Barcelona a few years ago. I was in a room staring at a flickery grey screen for quite a while. There where more people sitting in the room, actually talking about the video. It was a bit humiliating when a museum assistant entered the room telling us the video installation was broken, and that we where basically staring at nothing.

In contrast to a Golden Shower, a Silver Lake sounded rather pleasing and I decided to make an afternoon visit. Google forced me to discover a few design destinations in the area, and I visited Yolk on my way to the lake itself. While replaying Cliffhanger, trying to climb over the fence that surrounded the reservoir, I noticed a large number of birds swimming in the lake. I imagined myself having wings. Followed by the fantasy being able to visit every location on earth besides the bottom of oceans and the inside of volcanos. To start a sentence the Carrie Bradshaw way ‘I couldn’t help but wonder’ why all the birds picked a fence-surrounded man-made fake lake to hang around. Unfortunately the thought of wings made me also realize I was flying home in a few hours. As a result, cashew nut sized tears raised the water-level of the lake, while world’s smallest violin was playing on the background.

The madness continues. Unabashedly showing off this weeks catch. Airport Customs and bag-checking-in fun guaranteed. Actually looking forward to the flight home now, being able to go trough all this new reading material while listening to Ben Stiller having a hard time in a few different movies.

Four hours before I have to board a plane bringing me back to where I came from. Desperate to fully enjoy my last bit of time in Los Angeles, I went back to the south facing slope of Mount Hollywood. As I had to make my bags a little bit lighter, having the books in mind, I decided to go for another drawing spree. The Easel I rented came in handy as the masking tape didn’t really stick to the trees. Did some pencil, acrylic, watercolor and crayon sketches. As usual drawing on my paper intentionally and drawing on my clothes unintentionally. It was the perfect end of the perfect days here. Thank you all for following my adventures on Instagram, Facebook or the blog. Special thanks for ordering one of the screen prints, that made this trip possible. Happy to mention that 48 of the 50 prints are sold so far. Major thanks to Ben, Iris & Julia for showing me around and taking care of me. And a massive thank you to Jeroen Smeets from The Jaunt, for sending me here against my will.