I am a visual artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. My work includes abstract digital and physical works using colour, motion, drawing, repetition and graphic elements. I studied and taught audiovisual design at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. My background as a designer, working across motion design, graphic design, animation and video, is an integral part of the way I approach my art.

What draws me is making work that does not start with a particular meaning or idea in mind. There is no story or concept that determines what the artwork should become. Instead, the work is allowed to develop on its own terms, through colour, shape, rhythm, experimentation and chance. Finding out where this can lead, and learning to let the work exist without having to explain it, remains an open-ended process.

It means letting go of control, yet each work is ultimately the result of deliberate choices. For someone with a strong tendency towards perfectionism, this interaction between unpredictability and control is a continuous learning process – accepting imperfections, resisting the urge to overthink every detail, and embracing happy accidents. That can be surprisingly difficult, but very liberating at the same time.

There is no single meaning that I expect the viewer to find. Titles may offer a starting point, but it is important to me that everyone is free to make of the work what they will, without being guided towards a particular interpretation. The aim of my constant experimentation is to create l’art pour l’art – in my eyes the purest form of art. Art that exists solely for the viewer's personal experience.

Harold Houdijk