Thinkspace is proud to show works from artists Willem Jacques Hoeffnagel and Jamiah Calvin in our viewing room this March for our 2022 program.
WILLEM JACQUES HOEFFNAGEL
‘Mixed Emotions’
Willem Hoeffnagel (b. 1995) is a painter from the Netherlands. Born in Arnhem, a city that is filled with emerging artists and lovers of art, he has always been interested in drawing and painting from an early age. After leaving a bachelor in entrepreneurship in Amsterdam, Willem enrolled in ArtEZ Zwolle to study illustration design. During that time, he focused on his personal style while also experimenting with new techniques and ideas.
However, Illustration didn’t end up to fit what he was trying to achieve. He then decided to leave while he was in the 3rd year, just one year before he could graduate. But working on his art everyday helped with developing as an artist and it has formed him into the artist that he is now. Soon after that, he started to work on his painting full time. It led him to grow and explore within the medium he loves the most. Painting.
The recognisable figures that have often been featured in Willem’s work have been close to him for more than a decade. Using the figures as a placeholder for a person, whether himself or someone else, it allows him to portray a scene or part of a small story to the viewer without putting too much attention to who it’s meant to be.
‘Mixed Emotions’ is the artist’s debut mini solo exhibition with Thinkspace and helps to set up a larger show in place with the artist for spring 2023.
JAMIAH CALVIN (aka MIAH THE CREATOR)
‘Brown Sugar’
‘Brown Sugar’ is Jamiah Calvin’s current series of drawings inspired by D’Angelo’s debut studio album, Brown Sugar. This collection marks the artist’s debut with Thinkspace and aims to introduce his work to our patron base.
In this artistic production, Calvin reminisces on his nostalgic life experiences during the mid- 90’s––living as a young Black man on Chicago’s West Side. Having heard nothing like this album before, Jamiah recalls being intuited by its one-of-a-kind musical sounds while drawing with his headphones on at his first creative job, Gallery 37.
Diving introspectively, the drawings are rich in concept and symbolism, the pink Nepalise Lokta paper the artist uses for this series compliments the brown and rich sweetness like that of brown sugar, Black love, and the overall adult-ish human experience. The paper fibers and soft lines of each drawing create a fusion that forms a tangible masterpiece rightfully named after Brown Sugar’s song titles.
As with the album, Calvin’s ‘Brown Sugar‘ study is an instant classic in which he tells a story where pain and hurt are transformed into a visual narrative of genuine love.
