Interview: Artist Henk Hofstra

The Dutch artist behind The Blue Road, Eggcident + other monumental public art installations

With Blue Road you set out to create an art installation that could be seen from Google Earth. How did you decide that you wanted to create a “river”?
The Blue Road used to be a canal. In the sixties they made it into a road. In 2007 the local politicians want it to make it a canal again (which is a general movement in The Netherlands these days: to make former canals canals again, interesting for your website maybe).  At the same time the city Drachten wanted to have an identity and they decided that ‘art’ was a good idea, so they invited several artists and asked them for ideas. Mine was the best. “To prepare the people for the canal, we’re painting the road blue”,  I said. That was in 2007. In 2008 they should start to dig, but it’s still a road, because the company who got the order has financial problems (this company also builds houses and you probably heard about the economical crisis). So The Blue Road is still there.

Have you worked on water themed projects before?
No, not with projects. I do make a lot of paintings where water is involved, some of them you can see on my website. In my spare time I like to sail.

Do you think that Blue Road helped people see urban water differently?
People do start to see the environment differently. For instance, before they never wonder why all roads are gray.

Eggcident, which came after Blue Road also has a watery, visceral quality. What is it about water or wet things that attracts  you?
That’s far-fetched. It’s about eggs, ‘The first egg has been laid’ (a Dutch saying). It’s hard to explain what I like about water, I like to  sail and ‘nature in the city’ in general. Without it, it can make a city depressed as the architecture of the (former) communism  countries.

What kinds of drawings or models do you create for  your installations?
Paintings, photos and prints.

What do children think of your projects? Do they respond differently than adults?
Yes they do! Children are more open-minded than a lot of adults. They were very positive about it and said it’s cool and great. A lot of adults found it also cool, but not always immediately.

Rumor has it that you have a big project opening this summer. Can you tell us anything about it?
Two actually, one is not about water and will be in the news about two weeks. The other, in June, I can tell you a bit about it.
Title: Above Water. It will be in Lelystad, a Dutch city in a polder (reclaimed land). About the town, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelystad

Is there anything you want to add about the Blue Road?
A few weeks after The Blue Road was there, a regional newspaper published about ‘The Blue Buy Wave’ surrounded shops in the city sold more than before, because a lot of tourist came to see  The Blue Road (and than they bought books, clothes, ice cream).

If you have interesting artnews, send it to www.hollandartavenue.nl <http://www.hollandartavenue.nl>   (info@hollandartavenue.nl )

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Links:
www.henkhofstra.nl

More images of the Blue Road:

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