A Balancing Act in Borrowed Shoes
Bob Geerts
60 x 80 cm, Oil, Acrylic and Soft Pastel on Canvas, 2025
Bob Geerts (The Netherlands, 1990), is a self-taught visual artist with over 18 years of experience, including 13 as a professional tattooist, whose work is defined by bold lines, vivid colors, and compositions inspired by vintage tattoo art. Returning to painting to seek deeper creative freedom, Geerts draws on influences from folk and modern art, especially treasures found across European markets and imagery from the 1920s, while integrating elements of Russian avant-garde and cubism. His art explores the human condition, reflecting on identity, tradition, and modernity, often centered around expressive human figures. Viewing art as a deeply personal and authentic expression, he treats some of his paintings like tattoos, rooted in tradition but open to experimentation. Unlike the technical constraints of tattooing, painting offers him unlimited creative possibilities, allowing him to blend past and present through contrasting elements such as brightness and melancholy, soft curves and sharp lines, crafting evocative visual narratives that invite viewers into a rich, imaginative world.