Book “44 Weird Birds” (Vierenveertig Vreemde Vogels)

Description

Rick is painting Weird Birds (Vreemde Vogels in Dutch) for many years now. It started with the birthday of a beloved teacher at art school who loves birds. After that it started to become a series of little paintings with a lot of fun. And a break from the bigger, more serious paintings that took a lot of time to create.

With every bird there is something going on.  Some birds have such an unusual appearance, that with some minor accessories you can turn them into a Weird Bird. Other times Rick just plays with combining other objects or themes. Like the Mangakin in anime style, or a bird turning into an abstract-expressionistic painting. A lot of the Weird Birds originated from absurd brainstorm sessions with Veerle (his wife and ‘partner in crime’). What can you do with certain ideas or bird sayings? Other times they were just fooling around all together at the expense of some poor bird. The crazier the better!

After painting lots of Weird Birds it only seems logical to collect all the birds in a book. In Dutch it made perfect sense to include 44, because the title Vierenveertig Vreemde Vogels alliterates nicely. Back then I wasn’t really aware that the title wasn’t very international… Anyway, so be it. The book is still a lovely way to see all 44 birds. Certainly because most of them are sold to private collectors.
Absolutely a nice gift for yourself or someone who likes art or birds, or even better: both!