q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.
a) My name is Gerard Raatgeep, 43 years young and born and raised in The Hague - The Netherlands.
I started creating as a kid and i was always busy with playing outside and
creating things and i still do that till this very moment.
q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you you first realized that you
wanted to be an artist?
a) I never saw myself as an artist but i was always creating, i had a lot of jobs
in the past (over 40,) but most of the time i was not feeling in the right place
on these jobs, after a few burn outs i started to work on myself to get
psychically and mentally stronger by reading self help books and eating better
food.
It's only since a few years that i know that i want to be an artist.
q)What are your tools?
a) For the selfie project i use fishing line, rope, tape and rubber bands or whatever i can use.
q)Who or what gives you inspiration?
a) Anything from daily life, psychology, music, art, people, and tv shows like "The
Mighty Boosh", "Tim & Eric" and especially the dutch tv series "Rembo en Rembo"
and "Theo en Thea".
q)Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study?
a) I did a few short art courses but mostly is self-taught, i am originally a
pastry chef and did that for about a year.
q)How do you keep “fresh” within your industry?
a) I just do what i like, the best way to be happy and fresh :)..
q)What are some of your current projects?
a) I am working on a project together with Benadski and we are creating painting
robots, we are in the last phase of that project, you can see it on
http://squaintbots.net
The selfies with a twist project is still running and i am working on a website
with animations and music, you can see an small example on the front page of my
website http://rtgp.xyz.
q)Which of your works are you the most proud of? And why?
a) For now i am most proud of the Squaintbots project because i am working on that
for more then a year, before that i have not so much patience.
q)Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have
yet to try?
a) I am really not looking to much forward for projects, most of the time the best
ideas come unexpected like a split second thought in my head, you must be very
conscious to notice them and do something with that thought.
q)What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?
a) I meditate every day because that's giving me the needed rest in my thinking,
besides that i try to stepping out of my comfort zone to explore new things.
I am not smoking and also i am not drinking alcohol anymore because alcohol
makes me anxious and it takes away my energy and creativity, i allow myself to
drink but i choose not to do it and in that way it works for me the best..my
last drink was more than 16 months ago.
q)how do you spend most of your free time?
a) I like to go out in nature and making music on my keyboard/computer and i have
fun with adjusting and making my own clothes. Also i like to go out with my
metal detector, metal detecting is really a good way to calm your thoughts
besides finding nice things.
q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?
a) Wannes Goetschalckx is one of my favorite artists ("1 STORY" is my favorite
things ever, it's here: https://player.vimeo.com/video/81874481) and i like
Christeene, both music and performance, furthermore i am interested in technology with art.
with art and performance art/drag.
q)We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands on them? Do you
sell them? How?
a) Pictures will be available for sale within a few months from now, i will post a
message on my Flickr account when the time is there.
