‘'A part of me is in the drawings I made for Wobby’’

By Simone Vos

Three recently graduated and international artists show their work in the newest Wobby #31 - Good job. They were selected from the Open Call for Graduates 2020 & 2021 and created some brand new work for the latest edition of Wobby. Jiajiao Li (CN/NL), Jochem van den Wijngaard (NL) and Femke Zwiep (NL) showcase their work. "For me, being an artist is a way to speak out. Art is a window for me that helps me to catch some fresh air. In my paintings, like the one I made for Wobby, I can express how I feel", states Jiaojiao Li, visual artist and filmmaker. "There is always a link between my art and my life. Therefore, there is also a part of me in the drawing I made for Wobby."

Femke Zwiep (NL) is a writer and visual artist and a 2021 graduate from ArtEZ Creative Writing. For Wobby #31 she wrote a poem. "The best way to express myself and what I want to say, is through writing. Poetry is recently the most natural way of writing for me. It surprises me, because when I write the text, through poetry it changes into something I didn't know it could be. Mostly it starts with an observation or a theme, but then through the poem a new world opens up", she says. "I knew the theme 'Good job' for a while already, but I don't want to put the theme literally in a poem. In some way, it will be in there. This poem is about 'Good job' in the sense of doing your best about doing your job right. Besides my work as an artist, I also have another job that pays the rent. Some people think that this job is boring, but for me it's not so bad. That's what I wanted to express in my poem for Wobby."

**Jochem van den Wijngaard for Wobby #31**

The medium follows the thought

Just like Femke, Jochem van den Wijngaard (NL), interdisciplinair artist, puts his own thoughts and the things he sees or does into his artwork. Jochem graduated in 2020 from the Frank Mohr Institute and earned his Master in Fine Art and Design - Painting. "What's typical for my work is that it always has a strange balance between chaos and control. I think it's interesting to discover how systems work and how we as human beings relate to them. When something interests me or triggers something in me, I want to know more about it", he states. "I use different kinds of media and it's more the way of thinking that informs the artwork. The medium follows the thought most of the time."

Drawing from nature

"For Wobby I worked very intuitively and playfully. I got my inspiration from my vacation in Slovenia. There I was climbing the highest mountain and there were a lot of flowers and bees. I started thinking: 'What if there's a hypernature, with mechanical bees?' That thought stuck with me and that's where the idea started. Bees are work insects, so they literally do their job", Jochem says. "And the drawing is also about: 'Do we, human beings, do a good job? In the way we treat nature. So it's also a question: What if we were to create mechanical bees? What would happens with our nature if we recreated everything? Would it be a good or a bad thing? What kind of reality do we create in our world? You can interpret this drawing in more than one way. That's what I like about it."

Follow your heart
Jiaojiao Li (CN/NL) is a visual artist and filmmaker. She graduated as a Bachelor in Media Art at Sichuan Fine Arts INstitute in China in 2016 and did her Master in Visual Art at St. Joost School of Art in Breda from 2019-2021. "For me the Netherlands are much more open in art education. At St. Joost I had so much freedom and everything was possible. I liked that way of being educated. In the Netherlands there are more possibilities for me", she states. Her inspiration for the drawing she made for Wobby #31 comes from her own experiences in the Netherlands. "I did an artist-in-residency in Marrum, close to Leeuwarden. I was surrounded by nature there and it made me so calm and happy. There were a lot of lambs and they were so nice. It struck me that I didn't have this feeling in the city. There I felt stressed and always under pressure. So it was at that moment that I felt I did a good job to come here. It's close to my body and to my heart, that's what my drawing is about."

About the Open Call

In September 2021, Wobby launched the first ‘Open Call for Graduates’ for artists that graduated in the years 2020 & 2021. The 150 applicants came from all over the world, including Colombia, China, Nigeria, US, the Netherlands and Germany. “Because of Covid, there were hardly any graduation shows to discover new, international talent”, Marjolein Schalk, chief editor of Wobby states. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for illustrators, artists and writers to show their work to a worldwide community of illustration, art and riso-lovers. A chance to get their first assignment, within the challenging technical framework of the risoprint, and with guidance from our team.”

Wobby #31 – Good job👍 is available here