Geert Jan Talens (Groningen, Netherlands, 1957)

‘As a child I was drawing a lot. Galloping horses with cowboys and Indians, cars, masked robbers, airplanes. Drawing was an escape from an unfriendly world. Hardly anything was saved from this early work.

In 1980 I finally felt at place entering the art academy studying Graphic Design. Many young artists at the time expressed themselves through pop-art media like TV, comics, posters and album covers. I interred at the NOS (Dutch national TV broadcasting) for some time, only to find that my need to express in a personal way collided with the volatility of the tube. Frustrated, I started to draw and paint again, for the first time since I was a kid. Picasso was my hero.