Creating a Brandhoek Series: From First Mood to Final Edition

The development of a Brandhoek series begins long before the first animal enters the pictorial space. At the beginning, there is no concrete figure and no motif, but an atmosphere. A feeling that slowly condenses and seeks visual expression.

Architecture of Image Spaces

Brand Mewis approaches his pictorial spaces like an architect. The rooms are created orthographically, without vanishing lines, without perspective distortion. This technique gives the works their characteristic timelessness – a visual language that consciously turns away from the conventions of classical perspective painting and instead enables an equal dialogue of all pictorial elements.

Choosing the Right Animal

Which animals carry a series is decided by Brandhoek not for aesthetic reasons, but for content-related ones. Every otter, falcon, or wolf brings its own kind of calm, presence, and depth. The cult animals embody archaic symbolism, while the horse series recall the connection between humans and animals through the millennia.

The Compositional Phase

When the mood and the animal fit together, the compositional phase begins. It is meticulous and detail-oriented. Every line, every shadow is carefully placed until the image achieves that peculiar balance that makes Brandhoek works so distinctive – a tension between calm and presence, between the familiar and the wild.

The Brandhoek Moment

Thus, from an idea emerges a space, from a space a series, and from a series a world. Many collectors therefore speak of the Brandhoek moment – that instant when the work completely captures the viewer and draws them into its quiet, magical atmosphere.