Femke Hiemstra (; born 1974 in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaa ...

) is a Dutch

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

Work

Hiemstra started as a freelance

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

for 10 years until her paintings became too elaborate for commissions and she transitioned into working primarily in

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

. Her work is usually categorized as pop surrealist or American

lowbrow Lowbrow may refer to: * Lowbrow, relating to, or suitable for a person with little taste or intellectual interest, the converse of highbrow * Lowbrow, forms of entertainment that are unsophisticated, i.e. not difficult or requiring much intelligen ...

art, but she has said that the most accurate label for her work is "Neo-Fabulism" due to the anthropomorphic (see Anthropomorphism), and narrative-based subject matter. Despite her underground style, Hiemstra has been met with a dedicated fan base; most of her shows selling out within minutes of their announcement. Her

mixed media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art inc ...

works are made with delicate layers of acrylic paint and color pencil on the surfaces of old books or other bric-a-brac objects. The themes are often mixtures of animals and comic characters, dark surreal settings and stylized

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...

. * ''Carnival, or the Story of a Sad Hungry Bunny''. Antwerp, Bries, 2005 * ''Rock Candy''. With an overview of her work,

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

, 2009, .

Education

1990-1994: School of Graphic Arts,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

1994-1997: Art Academy,

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

References

External links

Femke Hiemstra's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiemstra, Femke 1974 births Living people 21st-century Dutch women artists Dutch painters Dutch illustrators Dutch women illustrators Dutch surrealist artists Women surrealist artists Dutch women painters Artists from Zaanstad