My name is Juul and I’d like to introduce myself to you. I completed my education at De Kopse Hof in Nijmegen (Creative Therapy, Bachelor) and at the Academy of Arts in Arnhem (Bachelor). I also worked under the name of Espressione Julia, which was at that time also the name of my art company, where I works with several art projects and assignments. In 2016 I set up my studio JUULS ATELIER (www.juulsatelier.nl). This is a workshop where people with mental problems can work through the Activating Work Department of the municipality. From January 2023 Lynke van Eertwegh is going to take over the studio as the new owner. Now I work as an independant contractor under my own name, Juul Hogeling (www.juulhogeling.nl). For art assignments, workshops, occasional coaching in a studio and exhibitions/sale of paintings you can always get in touch with me through this website.
Besides paintings I also have designs, statues and sculptures.
My first paintings represent people in motion, a jumble of shapes that overlap in bright colours as well as in pastels. Dynamic, in motion, as my life is. Enterprising, active and positive. Because of their size (this painting for example is 1.20 m x 1.40 m) the paintings have a considerable impact.
On my tour through Cuba I was fascinated by the appearance of a beautiful old man in the street and I thought: “Him I am going to paint, this time I’m going to make a portrait, something completely different from the wild paintings”. When I had painted him with his sad look in which the poverty and desolation of his life was even becoming more tangible, I decided to put a cheerful red cloth behind it. With this addition the man cleared up completely. It also has an alienating effect. A new concept was born … and I started making a series of this concept. I give each portrait its own face and background
“Man uit Cuba” 2014 acryl on canvas, 1.00 x 1.20
The people I met on my travels to Asia, Africa and South America and the impressive nature inspired me for these portraits. Besides travelling broadens your view and makes us experience the relativity of many things we worry so much about here. Unfortunately I also often saw poverty and misery. It all depends on where you were born as a child. In fact that is what determines your opportunities in life and what your future will look like. Like the little girl I met in Kenia, in an old worn dress. “She would also like to be a princess”, I thought. So I painted her as a proud little princess.
“Prinsesje Kenia” 2015 acryl on canvas, 1.20 x 1.40 m
A new theme entered my work. In addition to my interest for wild plants, botanic gardens, insects, birds and other animals I have also been an enthousiastic beekeeper for a number of years and I love to work in my wild woodland garden. Inspired by the beautiful exotic wild plants in Costa Rica, one of my favourite countries, ecological and sustainable, nature became a recurring subject in my work.
But even in the jungle you see people with a cell phone … And how does it feel to place your own daughter Suus, a modern western girl, in the jungle?
“Jongen met mobieltje” 2016 acryl on canvas,1.20 x 1.40 m “Suus met kolibrie” 2017 acryl on canvas, 1.20 x 1.40 m
Who is in charge of this beautiful nature? Who makes the decisions here? An item which is now quite topical all over the world, plastic waste, concrete, petrification, climate change. As a nature lover I also worry about that. This is becoming more and more a theme in my work.
“Why concrete”? 2019 Acryl on canvas, 1.20 x 1.20 m
And then there was the corona pandemic. A scary and exciting time, which was the inspiration for the next painting.
Painting “CORONA” (acryl on canvas, 1.80 m x 2.20 m) march 2021
My view of the Corona pandemic, oppressive, frightening. It comes to us, shares with us and changes the world. Fortunately there are healthcare workers, and in this painting we see them as a Corona army that is trying to fight the virus and help us. The Coronas shine like fireworks in the sky.
But it is also a time in which we retreat to nature …
Because insects are hugely endangered, I started to study more about wild bees and insects. This was another good reason to rearrange our wild woodland garden once more to make more species feel at home there. It gives me the feeling to be able to do something myself. There are now many species of wild bees, hornets, butterflies and other insects. In order to be able to study them even better, I’m following courses and lectures and started to draw them.
I was also trained as an ambassador for Biodiversity so that I can advise and motivate others to give nature a helping hand. Nature is becoming more and more a theme in my work. I am fascinated by the mangrove forests, which I visited many times on my travels. The mystical, sometimes depressing atmosphere appealed to me, but then again with colourful accents. There is still hope …
Mangrove (left) acryl on canvas 1.10 x1.40 Mangrove (right) 1.00 x1.00 m
Developments continue and I have no idea what other paintings I will make in the future. That’s what makes it exciting and surprising. The enormous freedom that I feel to make what I want and the urge to express my thoughts and feelings in art will never stop. Fortunately ..
Juul Hogeling