Biography

Wouter Hisschemöller was born in Haarlem, the Netherlands in 1965.

Education

During his teens he learned the technique of etching from artist Herman Geerdink. He studied visual arts at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, where he graduated in 1990 as a visual artist in the field of etching, lithography and printed arts.

Artist’s practice

He worked as an artist in Utrecht, and from 1993 in a shared studio for the graphic arts Grafisch Collectief Thoets in Amsterdam. He participated in gallery exhibitions, sold work through ‘kunstuitlenen’ (art lease organisations) and created some commissioned work.

Programming and Internet

Having been interested in computers and programming for a long time, he found ways to use programming in the artistic process. He wrote custom software for a modified flatbed plotter, so that the plotter could draw directly on etching plates and lithographic stone. This way he combined algorithm based designs with hand-drawn images.

At the end of the nineties he became fully involved in web development and he today continues to work for online agencies.

Painting

Painting has through the years taken over from the graphic arts.

The paintings are about people and life in the city. They are often based on collages made in Photoshop from images found online or taken by himself at home and abroad. He finds collage a medium that can well express he many lives lived and mixed together in a city.

Painting and programming

He now explores ways in which programming can help or influence the artistic process.

Videos filmed outside in the streets can be cut and pasted like collages with the help of custom written software. Paintings can then be based on stills from those videos. New images can be made by applying computer algorithms. Photo collages can be generated automatically by computer code. Video, image and sound can come together in a 3D environment. These are currently interesting directions to explore.