About

Bob Mollema, Bennekom 1990, works as an illustrator, artist and musician. He mainly works on large projects where humanity, absurdity, desire and dishonesty are central. These elements form a cocktail that results in critical, sometimes humorous, illustrations that make people think. Because of his wide-ranging interests, he touches on different themes and makes them his own.

In his work, he is very much involved with polytheistic pre-Christian religions. The deeper he dives into it, the more he sees that the stories are allegories and personifications of forces in nature and the range of human emotions. There is a material connection between those stories. Monotheism has Christianized all this excellent stuff and tied it to a god outside of nature, a god who seemingly made us in his image. That is where the disruption between man and nature comes from.

Their way of living with nature is something he finds inspiring and tries to convey to his audience through his art. He does this by researching the visual language of different ancient civilisations’ often naive and pure styles. He tries to learn from this style by actively using it as inspiration.

He mainly works with crayon, pencil or oil paint because the roughness, coincidence, margin of error & the analogue aspect are in keeping with his search for purity and authenticity. It is an act of rebellion against the uniformity slowly but surely devouring the world.

In addition to independent projects, he works for various international clients. Including: Volcom, National Geographic, Regulator Crew, De Bijenkorf, National Geographic, Atacama Surf Shop, Moersleutel Craft Brewery, De Bonte Koe Chocolade, Bandcamp, Bonne Suits, VPRO, Paradiso, De Volkskrant & De Standaard.

If you want to know more about Bob Mollema his making process, mission and fascination, check out the interview Wasted Talent did with him.

In 2022, Bob Mollema was named 2023 up-and-coming talent by the Volkskrant! Largest and most-read newspaper in the Netherlands. View the modest article here

Download his PDF portfolio here