Arne Zuidhoek - Stervende Gala

Arne Zuidhoek is one of the best-known Utrecht and Dutch artists. Born in Amsterdam in 1941. That same year he moved to the city of Utrecht. In 1963-4 he took lessons in drawing (with William D. Kuik) and painting (Hubert Sluis) and studied at the National Academy of Visual Arts (RABK) in Amsterdam until 1967. Establishes himself as a visual artist and publicist in Utrecht. As a visual artist, Arne Zuidhoek specializes in the black and white pen technique. Art critic and gallery owner Jan Juffermans: “Surrealism flourished in Utrecht like in no other city. Zuidhoek could not avoid this magical charm. His impetuous drawing pleasure, pure imagination, great storytelling in meticulous lines, hatches and dots, insignificant spots and smudges, together form a genre that has taken its own place next to the -isms that have emerged or been invented over the centuries.” In addition to the illustrative drawings that appeared in magazines, albums and in book form, Zuidhoek makes “free sheets” that serve advertising work. Designs carrier bags, record vouchers and various other printed matter for Music Staffhorst. More than 5 million copies of the carrier bags are sold, now collector's items, as well as the poster for the first pop festival in the Netherlands: Flight to Lowlands Paradise (1967). Became co-owner of the top sailing schooner De Hoop in 1972 and until 1979 combined sea voyages with working on a comprehensive oeuvre as a visual artist and writer. His first book was published in 1974: magnus opus De Verzinsels van Vader Wapper, the first and still the only true “graphic novella” in the Netherlands. Re-edited in 2014 (in color), as an introduction to a Wapper series with titles such as Een Reis. Illuminated by a J. Slauerhoff poem, 10 Impossible Journeys and The Sigh of the Moor. Writer/publisher Wim Hazeu: “Zuidhoek emerged as a very mobile publicist with a soft spot for maritime and Eastern societies. He carefully compiled collections of stories from the mysterious Eastern world that are virtually unknown in Europe.” With titles such as: Christians for Allah, Islamic Tales and Legends of Moorish Spain. From 1979 to 1983 Zuidhoek travels in the US Exhibitions in New York NY, Carmel Cal. and Seattle Wash. There his style and way of working changes, via pen drawings to watercolor, watercolors, gouache and acrylic - from black and white to color, based on a sound knowledge of the techniques. Today there are approximately 80 book titles to his name.