October 2009: Sjors Vervoort in the Netherlands

I'm always on the lookout for street art innovators. While the medium itself is novel, sometimes a piece pops up that grabs my attention. Enter Sjors Vervoort. This Dutch native recently moved his cardboard creatures down under, but I hope he makes it to the U.S. sometime soon. Today, he discusses the process behind his street creatures. He writes:

"I have recently moved to Melbourne, Australia, from the Netherlands, so I don't have any of the characters here. Some of them will be shown in a museum in Holland though, but unfortunatly not in the States, since I
haven't got any budget. I am thinking of joining an artists program in Utah next year, where I might be able to get fundings to create some characters there. And I'm currently designing new characters to place in Melbourne, Australia."
"To be honest, I'm still a rookie when it comes to street art. I'm an animator and character designer, and have recently started to explore the world of street art. My first street art project was cardboard, an experimental animation. I liked the idea of exposing my characters in the streets. After thinking of different materials, I decided to use cardboard. It's flexible, cheap and easy to manipulate. Characters are really important to me, there universal and appealing to all cultures."
"Since I haven't got much expierence yet, I'm still working solo. But I'm always looking arround for other interesting artists to collaborate with. I developed my style by spending years of drawing doodles. My characters are usually created around a certain theme. And when creating my characters, I'm always thinking in movements, in case I'm going to animate them. Lately, I have been spending a lot of time researching bugs. They have the most beautiful and
organic movements which I can use for my characters."
"I paint my cardboard characters safely at home, probably because I'm still a woosh when it comes to writing on the streets. When my characters are ready, I place them in the streets. With cardboard, I spend a lot of time finding the right locations. I recently started doing stickers, so putting them on walls is still exciting for me."

"I never expected cardboard to be this successful, but since I have had so much possitive feedback. I have decided to continue creating new cardboard characters. Melbourne is perfect because it has a great street art scene. Currently, I'm still designing the characters, and looking arround for big pieces of cardboard."

Fabulous, Sjors! Can anyone hook him up with some giant corrugated sheets? The man needs cardboard STAT! For more creatures, check out his website. (I must say, the tee shirts look fantastic.)