FLORENTIJN HOFMAN

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Kampen, The Netherlands in 2000; then followed his MFA from the Kunsthochschule Weissensee in Berlin, Germany.

Hofman aims to challenge the audience’s comfortableness by recasting the simply perspective on quotidian objects. The familiarity and positivity from the artwork allows the public to explore art in an affable way. Subsequently he crafts these into clear and iconic images; oddly oversize “toy” that alienate and unsettle through their sheer size and use of materials, such as Rubber Duck (2007): an inflatable giant-sized representation of a rubber duck bath-toy that has been seen in harbors across the world, from France to Brazil, New Zealand to Hong Kong, and from Pittsburgh to even Santiago in Chili. They are immediately identifiable and have an instant appeal.

The attention Hofman gives to his surrounding let him examine the possibility of material and explore the essence and the beauty of form and shape. He expends his imagination by merging the local culture into his artwork and evoke the missing interaction.

Social engagement and intercommunication are the key elements on Hofman’s creation. Hofman generates an encounter for the audience to his universal aesthetic by sharing his drive for sculpture in public space. The joy he created allow audiences to abandon the idea of races and religions and enter the conversation with the artworks. By enlarging the creation Hofman aims to reflect the equability and insignificant of oneself.

Steelman 3/7

FLORENTIJN HOFMAN

Price: Private

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Exhibitions (Excerpts):

2023: “PLAY – Upside Down” (Hong Kong)
2022: “Space Dog” (Shanghai, China)
“Celebrate” Today Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
“Rubber Duck” (Seoul, Korea)
“Magic Cube” (Chengdu, China)
2021: “Shiny Squirrel” (Chongqing, China)
“Playground” (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
“Rubber Duck” (liquique, Chile)
2020: “Messenger of Brisbane” (Brisbane Festival, Australia)
“Selfie Panda“(Dujiangyan, China)
2019: “Diversity for Peace” (The Procuratie Vecchie, Venice, Italy)
“New Humania Exhibition” (NEMO Science Museum, The Netherlands)
“Rubber Duck” (Osaka, Japan)
2018: “Play Around the World” (Whitestone Gallery Taipei, Taiwan)
“Play Around the World” (Whitestone Gallery Hong Kong, China)
2017: “Rubber Duck” (Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile)
“Bubblecoat Elephant” (Kraken, Shenzhen, CN)
“Sweet Swans” (Seoul, Korea)
“Bubblegum Frogs” (Chiayi County, TW)
“James a la Laika” (Shanghai, CN)
2016: “Pets” (Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, The Netherlands)
“Conibear” (Eelde, NL)
“Floating Fish” (Wuzhen, CN)
“Rubber Duck” (Osaka and Macau)
2015: “PROJECTS 2014 (Moonrabbit, Taoyuan, TW)
“Belgrade Bear” (Belgrade, Serbia)
“Hippopothames” (London, UK)
“Rubber Duck” (Shanghai, Nanjing, Guiyang, Qingdai, Hangzhou)
2013: “Zagarayuschiy Zayats” (St. Petersburg, Russia)
“2 Blue Sparrows” (Rock Werchter Fest, Werchter, Belgium)
“Rubber Duck” (Sydney, Baku, Hong Kong, Pittsburg, Beijing, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung)
2012: “Mosca Muerta” (Cut Out Fest, Querétaro, Mexico)
“Mickey the Pig” (Arte headquarters, Strasbourg, France)
“Little Factory” (Landmark industrial area Azeven Noord, Drachten, NL)
2011: “Kobe Frog” (Hyogo Museum of Art, Kobe, Japan)
“Steelman” (Amsterdam, NL)
“Lookout Rabbit” (Nijmegen, NL)
2010: “Fat Monkey” (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
“Solo show, 12 meter Rubber Duck” (Hasselt, BE)
“The City Museum, 2 Caniches and Mole” (Lelystad, NL)
Solo show, “Dushi” (Delfzijl, Groningen, NL)
2009: “Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009”, “Rubber Duck” (Osaka, JP)
“Twente Biennale” (Hengelo, NL)
Solo show, Galery West, “Dushi”, “Two Treehouses, Tree and platonised wood” (The Hague, NL)
2008: “Mostra sesc de artes 08, Rubber Duck” (Sao Paulo, BR)
2007: “See for real, Zirkus Zeppelin” (South-Holland, NL)
“Instant Urbanism” (Basel, Switzerland)
“Estuary Biennale” (St. Naizare, FR)
2006: “Urban Explorers Festival” (Dordrecht, NL)
“Boumbaclaque, Dak’art Off biennale, Lion avec ballon” (Dakar, Senegal)
2005: “Krabbeplas, The Great Conservancy Show, happening” (Vlaardingen, NL)
Solo show (Galery West, The Haque)
“Nationaal Monument” (Amsterdam)
2004: Solo show (Museum Nagsael, Rotterdam, NL)