Self-taught Rob van Hoek (1957) has been inspired by the landscape for years. Patterns, lines, rhythm, surfaces, but also fallow, green, ripe, mown fields, a row of trees along the road or a lonely tree in a field; the cultural landscape is his greatest source of inspiration. Of course with the horizon and the spectacle above it, which determines the space and the atmosphere to a significant extent.

Rob van Hoek's use of materials is unusual. He has been working almost exclusively with oil pastels for years. It is a physically strenuous way of working but more direct in contact with the painting than applying paint. The chosen technique also contributes to the atmospheric and transparent character of the paintings. He applies about 5 to 6 layers of primer on the canvas with the brush. In such a way that a beautiful structure of brush strokes is created. It is quite time consuming, but adds a lot to the painting in terms of atmosphere. The painting itself is done with transparent oil paint in several layers. Instead of applying paint very precisely with a brush, Rob van Hoek often works the other way around. He applies a lot of paint and polishes and removes part of this layer very precisely. This can be done with a brush, as well as with a cloth, paper towels, cotton swabs, the back of a brush, or whatever is appropriate to get the right lines, shapes, or smudges.

All the titles of his paintings are phrases (or fragments thereof) from song texts. Rob van Hoek: “Mostly from pop music, but also jazz titles, or whatever. It is unbelievable how often there is a reference to the landscape, the weather, the time of day, the time of year et cetera. These are wonderful titles to work from, to add to a painting or afterwards. The term “Songlines” is also a semi-serious reference to the book with that title by the English novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin, in the Dutch translation “De Gezongen Aarde”.

The artworks below by Rob van Hoek are available at