04 march 2024, Wouter van den Eijkel
The studio of... Telmo Pieper
Telmo Pieper is high on the imaginary list of well-known artists who no one knows. Over the past decade, he has gained international fame as half of the duo Telmo Miel, renowned for their towering hyperrealistic murals. Their work can also be stumbled upon in the Netherlands, such as at Feis Forever and PowWow in their hometown of Rotterdam, or at Glove Stories in Heerlen.
Pieper continues to primarily work on murals elsewhere in the world during spring and autumn. In autumn, he returns to his studio full of ideas. For Entangled, Pieper's first solo exhibition, he created 11 paintings and a sculpture. "The work delves into the positive and negative interpretations of ‘entanglement’, the idea of being ensnared with oneself or interwoven with others." Pieper executed this entanglement so technically precise that it's hard to discern where one body ends and the other begins.
Entangled can be viewed at Galerie Untitled in Rotterdam until 7 April.
Where is your studio and what does it look like?
My studio is in Rotterdam Noord in an old school building owned by SKAR. It's a beautiful high-ceilinged old classroom with large windows that is perfectly suited for painting (Koningsveldestraat 14).
In the past, you mainly worked on location. Is it challenging to adapt to a regular working day in a studio?
I still work on mural projects on location, primarily from spring to early autumn. It's outdoor work, so decent weather is a must. In between, I also work in the studio, but I especially enjoy spending months on end in the studio to develop new ideas once all the outdoor projects are finished. I enjoy the combination of working outdoors a lot in good weather and then immersing myself in the studio during autumn/winter.
What does a typical day in your studio look like? Do you have routines like listening to music or do you prefer silence? Do you receive visitors or would rather be alone when working?
I usually start my day in the studio with a cup of coffee and then take my time figuring out what I need and want to do that day. It depends on which phase of a work I have reached. When I just get started on a painting or am toying with ideas and designs, I often have visitors, schedule meetings and there's usually music playing or I listen to podcasts. At this stage, I'm open to any form of inspiration or sometimes distractions from all the ideas that are spinning around in my head. But during the detailing and finishing phase, I work in complete concentration and prefer to be alone. Sometimes there's music playing, but it doesn't really matter; I often don't even hear it when I'm really focused. I also often switch off or silence my phone during detailing work.
You've worked as part of a duo for ten years, together with Miel Krutzmann. Entangled, the show at Untitled, is your first solo exhibition. What is the biggest difference between working as a duo and solo?
The difference is mainly that you have complete freedom to do as you please. Before, even with (solo) duo shows, we made our own work, yet at the same time we were also working towards each other and coordinating everything together.
Entangled consists of 11 paintings and one sculpture. We see people intertwined – it's about finding where one body begins and the other ends. What's the idea behind it?
Entangled explores the notion of being ensnared or intertwined in an action or movement. The works delve into the positive and negative interpretations of ‘entanglement’, the idea of being ensnared with oneself or interwoven with others. The sculpture design came about during the lockdowns. Place of my own represents the conflict that arose within me from being more isolated and reliant on myself, which I quite enjoyed, but also the strong sense of missing the hustle and bustle of the city and distractions.
Your work is technically amazing. Which painting was the most difficult to create and why?
The technical aspect isn't particularly difficult after so many years of painting. Every year, you try to become better than the previous year. But it mainly has to do with time. The most difficult painting of this show was the largest painting, untying knots, which measures 200x300 cm. It's the largest canvas I've worked with in oil paint so far. Colour is very important in my work and with such a large canvas, it takes a lot of time to get the colours exactly right each time.
Most people find realistic drawing difficult, but you paint in a photorealistic style, which is even more challenging. Do you remember when you first achieved this?
Realistic drawing is something I’ve been doing since secondary school, but started painting at around the age of 17 when I enrolled in the Willem de Kooning Academy and met Miel. He was already into graffiti and I joined him to learn how to work with spray paint and paint murals. Inspired by the Old Masters, I was very focused on learning realistic painting.
There's also a sculpture in this show. Is this something new and do you plan to make more sculptures in the future?
Yes, it's something I'd been wanting to do for a long time but hadn’t gotten around to. You need extra time and money to experiment with something new like this. But I definitely plan to do more sculptures and further experiment with 3D work.
If I were to give you carte blanche, what project would you immediately start on?
A towering sculpture. After so many large canvases and murals, I would love to create a large object, especially now that I've gotten a taste for 3D work.
What are you currently working on?
The new show has just finished and opened. My studio is suddenly empty again, but messy. So, first I'll clean up properly to start fresh on something new. There are plenty of ideas and things that didn't make it into the show. I'll have to make a list and see what I want to continue with first. My outdoor projects will also be starting again soon, so there are designs and preparations I need to make for those.
