Florentijn Hofman (born 16 April 1977) is a Dutch artist who creates urban installations like the ''Rubber Duck'' and the ''HippopoThames'', a 2014 installation on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Life and career

Hofman was born on April 16, 1977 in

Delfzijl Delfzijl (; ) is a city and former municipality (which now belongs to the municipality of Eemsdelta) with a population of 25,651 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Delfzijl was a sluice between the Delf and the Em ...

in the Netherlands. He attended primary and secondary school in Emmen. He studied arts at the

art academy An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

of Kampen. He earned a master's degree in art in Weissensee,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Artwork

He mostly works on reproducing huge and large versions of everyday objects, such as laminate large flooring and flip-flops. The purpose of his art is to promote the message of healing. In 2005, he created a giant bird for the 2005

Crossing Border Festival Crossing Border Festival is an annual festival in The Hague, Netherlands focusing on new pop music acts and literature. It is one of the largest combined music and literature festivals in Europe. The first edition took place in 1993, as a larger fo ...

, where it was perched atop

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

. In 2006, the bird was installed in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

, whose staff hoped that the statue would prevent birds from flying into the buildings glass windows. His best-known work, ''Rubber Duck'', made its debut in 2007 in

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

, France, and has since appeared in many cities around the world. In 2011, the

Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art is a purpose built municipal art gallery in Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It was opened in 2002. The major collections of the museum are foreign and Japanese sculptures, foreign and Japanese prints, Western-style and Japanese-style ...

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, commissioned him to create another work, which became the ''Kobe Frog''. The museum had initially wanted ''Rubber Duck'' to be placed on its roof, which Hofman declined. In 2014, he introduced ''HippopoThames'' on the

in London, and ''Moon Rabbit'' in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, ahead of a land-art festival taking place in Taoyuan. In 2016, he created a floating fish sculpture in

Wuzhen Wuzhen ( zh, s=乌镇, p=Wūzhèn, Wu Chinese, Wu: Whu-tsen lit. "Wu Town") is a historic scenic Town (China), town, part of Tongxiang, located in the north of Zhejiang, Zhejiang Province, China. It was primarily built in the 7th century during th ...

, China, and two animal sculptures called ''PETS'' for

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Schiphol Airport Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municip ...

. In 2017, he created the ''Kraken'' playground in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, China, on a site that had been occupied by a former Soviet aircraft carrier. Hofman's sculptures are temporary—even the ''Rubber Duck'', which makes appearances in cities around the world, is created anew locally. He likes this because wealthy private collectors or those who see art solely as an investment are not able to buy his sculptures. In a 2013 interview, he stated "I'm not a big believer in 'art is forever'. A lot of art is bought by people who have money. But I'm a supporter of

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

in public spaces." He is also strictly against commercialization of his art, and only sells miniature replicas, whose profits go to local nonprofits. In

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in 2013, it was the Joyful (Mental Health) Foundation; in Pittsburgh in 2014, it was the

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (PCT) is an American, nonprofit, arts organization that was formed in 1984 to promote economic and cultural development in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The "Trust" has focused its work on a fourteen-square block ...

. Hofman has created six giant Gouldian finches for ''Messengers of Brisbane'', a public installation supposed to bring hope, joy and art exclusively to Brisbane during Brisbane Festival 2020. This project was produced in collaboration with UAP and Brisbane Festival. He canceled an appearance in

Keelung Keelung ( ; zh, p=Jīlóng, c=基隆, poj=Ke-lâng), Chilung or Jilong ( ; ), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city in northeastern Taiwan. The city is part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with neighboring New Ta ...

, to protest the fact that the organizers had turned the sculpture into a "commercial circus". He has been criticized as "reproductions do not infringe on an intellectual

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

that Hofman can't legitimately claim as his own".

Television

Hofman was one of the contestants in the twenty-first season of the Dutch television series ''Wie is de Mol?'' He was eliminated in the third episode of the show.

Gallery

Natuurmuseum.JPG, ''Crow'' at

Natural History Museum Rotterdam The (; ) is a natural history museum located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The museum opened in 1927. It had 44,009 visitors in 2015. History In 1922, the Rotterdam section of the Nederlandsche Natuurhistorische Vereeniging (Dutch Natural Hist ...

Rotterdam kunstwerk vijf papieren bootjes.jpg, ''Paper Boats'' in Rotterdam Beehold_Floriade.jpg, ''Beehold'' at

Floriade 2022 Floriade Expo Amsterdam - Almere 2022 was a Dutch horticultural exposition held in Almere, Netherlands. It is the seventh Floriade, held from 14 April to 9 October 2022. On 15 November 2017, Floriade Expo 2022 was officially recognized as a hor ...

in Almere, Netherlands, 2022

References

External links