1- First, we would like you to give us a brief feed back about yourself.
I’m a Dutch artist. I’m the President of FECO-Holland (Federation of cartoonists’ organizations). I currently live in
2- How did you become a cartoonist?
I studied arts and arts history on several academies to finally become a teacher in the arts. I never would become a teacher while in that time, 25 years ago, jobs seemed hard to find. So instead I started working in all kind of jobs and in the meantime started painting and illustrating and organising exhibitions of my work in order to survive and pay my drinking bills. In the eighties, frustrated and depressed after the ending of the relationship with my girlfriend, I started to join cartoon festivals with my work in order to do something else apart from
“The big art” and to try to visualize the dualistic things of live and men.
Through the years I made illustrations for all kind of people. Portraits, magazine covers, wall-paintings,
CD-covers etcetera. I don’t have a steady client apart from the owner of my favourite bar who wants a
Christmas painting on bars windows every year.
3 – What elements and events inspire you to draw cartoons?
We are not allowed to ignore the live in the world anymore. Modern media are bombing us with opinions, strategies and are illustrating it right “on the spot”. I think for most people the whole circus is sometimes not to be understood anymore. We get manipulated and nobody knows what is true or not anymore. Sometimes you are aware of it and you feel the urge to react. Shocking elements still happen apart from the many hints people get every day. Apart from the question if Saddam deserved death or not, I was shocked by the primitive way the execution was shown on TV. More shocked when worked out that it was filmed also illegally by mobile phone, including sound. Why? Sensation? Money?
Political profit? It’s disgusting how people deal with others in their so called decency.
This is a reason and a need to react through a visual piece of work.
4 – Do you think there should be limits to the cartoonist’s freedom of expression?
Difficult questions to answer while we are here in the position that we have that freedom. And other countries deal with censorship for all kind of reasons. Two years ago a Dutch film director was killed by cutting his throat like a pig. He was known for his straight opinions about problems in Dutch society dealing with Islamic people,
their believes and attitude. His tough opinions where put in films, interviews, own TV programs etcetera.
Later it was said that his tough opinions killed him while they could be very rough and without respect for the opponent.
Whether somebody’s right or not, we should try to deal with the others with a little bit more respect and understanding.
5 – It seems that censorship has a huge link to the cartoons because of his nature; and after the Danish cartoons & Holocaust contest do you think censorship has a positive role at the era of internet and the Information revolution?
No, not at all, cartoonists are independent artists, they have and need to put the finger on the wounded
society and make remarks andcomments in completely freedom! One way or another.
CONTINUE: