Illustrating a different world.
(Interview featured in 'Goon' magazine fall 2005)
Dutch artist Johan Potma: between marketing
and idealism.
I have always sympathised
with the ugly and odd.
Maybe this is some sort of rebellion
against the ideal beauty forced upon
us through the media.
Looking at the images and illustration
of Johan Potma
one notices a strong
connection between youth culture and art.
The 33 year old Dutchman, who has been living
in Berlin for 5 years, was introduced to
painting and drawing through
skateboarding and the visual world
strongly connected to this scene.
His work is very much based around
characters. Strange but endearing
fantasy creatures with human and
animalistic features
This subject focus immediately
leads one to consider the artist
primarily as a character designer.
Johan Potma,
however, wont be labelled that easily.
First and foremost, I'm an illustrator.
My work is character-based, but the
character is placed in visual context
through which the concept
or story is communicated.
I think it is much like making music -
you start with a small melody and
keep building on it until it is relatively finished.
Potma studied advertising as well as
illustration at the Minerva Art
Academy in Groningen, Holland.
Until now, this largely shaped his career.
Among his clients are
numerous magazines and publishers
worldwide and several
advertising and marketing agencies.
He is also a member of the Dutch
illustration collective, S.M.A.C.,
with whom he published several
underground books to promote his own
work, as well as to create
a platform for unknown illustration talent.
Having the talent to create images is
just the beginning; says Potma. We
published the books with our own
money and sold them at comic fairs.
It was during that time that we realised an artist
has to do a lot of work to be seen.
A big part of his income is generated
by illustration work. More specifically,
illustration inspired by concepts - visual solutions
communicated to a certain target group. It's important
to communicate the idea through the visual elements
used in the image.
I try to convey the crux of the message via visual
emphasis. Part of the reason I work a lot with characters
lies in the fact that people can identify with them.
A lot of the other elements have a supporting role in
communicating the message, but not always. Often I'll
use something just because it looks nice - a flower motif,
for instance.
Potma feels that the longer he works on an image
the more it loses its spontaneity and power of
visual communication.
This belief and the inspiration from comics and animation
explain the collage-like and everyday irony in his work.
Idealism is also a strong motivator for Potma.
Every Sunday he is found at the Boxhagener Platz flea market
selling his artwork together with the insanely talented mateo .
The one thing he wants to communicate more than anything
else. One should never forget to have some fun.
