SCRIBBLE WAVE

John Van Hamersveld always seems to have his finger on the pulse of popular culture, one step ahead of the crystal ball, a combination of keeping his mind open and his ambitions ever-reaching.

Artists and scholars of different disciplines refer to Van Hamersveld and his work as a magical enigma, describing him as a man “of a different mind”, and speaking in awe of his ability to capture the essence of a whole time period in a single piece.

Spontaneity is not part of his approach. He has the designer’s sensibility, not the artist who draws. Every inch, every wiggly worm is carefully considered. Even in his animated, futuristic style work his negative shapes are as important as his positive ones.

The drawing process continues flowing into detail with pen in hand, as Van Hamersveld explores patterns through the drawn image. This means that any given drawing derives from many hours of his contemplation in an almost trance-like state. The accumulation of experiences from the past truly become the past. As Van Hamersveld draws in the zen of the moment, with each hour's focus on the pen in front of the paper.

Known for his psychedelic patterns and vivacious color schemes, Van Hamersveldʼs images capture the essence of their subject, distilling the most powerful elements of a picture down to a graphic icon that becomes an emblem of a feeling, movement, or a way of life. Johnʼs work captures these subcultures so well because he experienced and interpreted them incessantly.