Illustrator Merijn Hos turns his talents to sculpture with marvellous results

We were already big fans of Dutch illustrator Merjin Hos and his vibrant, colourful work but his newest offerings have cranked that admiration up to 11. The pithily titled Wood Sculptures comrpises 109 wooden sculptures ranging from five to 14 inches high, each of which is bursting with character in a deliberately simple, playful way.

“I began the creation process by drawing objects that appear frequently in my work, for example, plants, faces and pottery in their most simple form, narrowing each item down to the essence of their shape,” Merijn said. “The drawings were then cut out of wood and finalised with house paint and acrylics. Being inspired by Art Brut and Folk Art I decided to paint what are rather abstract forms in a naïve way, using about 24 colours and a uniform brush size.”

The pieces were originally created for a group show at the Stedelijk Museum Kampen called Grenzeloos which translates as Boundless wherein illustrators were invited to showcase self-initiated art projects, and for the past month Merijn’s contributions have been on show at the Beginnings gallery in New York. Our only disappointment is that they haven’t made their way to London yet…