Hiemstra, Peter

Netherlands, 1954

Sculptures

Peter Hiemstra creates wonderful cartoonish artworks. His imaginative and colorful sculptures depict scenes that are in between witty and bizarre, honest and vulnerable. The world of Peter Hiemstra has its own laws, values and truths.

His ceramic and bronze figures resemble people with animal heads and often make a smile appear on the viewer’s face. They stand upright, sit, or hang, wear colourful clothing and blur the boundaries between humans and animals. At second glance, the animals are no longer as cute as imagined. A grim bottom layer becomes visible. Do these animals imitate humans? Or are they people who behave like animals? Peter Hiemstra not only questions our behaviour, our vision of the world, and our beliefs but also makes fun of it.