Adverse Complexity

"Adverse Complexity" is a vibrant abstraction that balances organic forms and geometric precision within a dynamic, multilayered composition. Bold line work and an arresting color palette of primary and secondary hues imbue the work with kinetic energy, while recurring motifs—eyes, teeth, a chain like intestinal tract—suggest an underlying narrative of perception, expression, and interconnectedness.

The visual field is anchored by three sculptural eyes with azure irises, placed in a horizontal band across the upper third. Their serene gaze introduces a focal axis that guides the viewer’s eye from left to right.

Directly beneath this ocular triad, two rows of stylized teeth—rendered in stark white against crimson gums—evoke both a grin and a grimace, hinting at dualities of emotion.

A stylised large intestine weaves through the midsection, serving as both connector and barrier between the upper iconography and the lower, more organic forms.

The right quadrant introduces an android-like robot: yellow-framed spectacles perched on an abstracted trapezoidal/cubist planes, with an oversized ear motif echoing the left shapes and reinforcing bilateral symmetry.

Warm tones (scarlet reds, tangerine oranges) pulse against cool blues and purples, generating visual vibration and depth.

The triptych of eyes atop the piece implies heightened awareness or surveillance.

Abstracted animal-like shapes in cerulean and deep russet below hint at instinctual, perhaps subconscious, drives.

Taken together, the work navigates a terrain between conscious perception and underlying primal forces, inviting viewers to contemplate how we see, speak, hear, and connect.

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van den hooven is an emerging Australian abstract cubist artist whose style is instantly recognisable for its quintessential features: bold lines, consistent colour palette and his symbolic logo-like depiction of facial features, bodily organs and other familiar objects.

His compositions are intentionally cluttered and contradictory, reflecting the chaos of modern life through a unique visual language that fuses the internal with the external, the animate with the inanimate, the natural with the technological.

Born into a lineage steeped in creativity, van den hooven’s artistic roots trace back to his grandfather Abraham Leendert van den Hooven, a Dutch sailor-turned-self-taught artist who settled in Australia in the late 1950s. His mother, Margarita Rosa, also pursued fine art, nurturing a household where creativity could flourish.

Coming from a science research background, van den hooven’s own journey into art was reignited after completing diplomas in graphic design (2016) and illustration (2018).

His work often explores themes of consumption, identity, internal conflict using familiar and quintessential objects—facial features, organs, androids, tentacles, surveillance cameras, crustaceans, fish, and more—to challenge viewers’ perceptions of necessity versus excess.

Looking forward, van den hooven is holding his inaugural solo art exhibition at the Clyde Gallery, Bay Pavilions Art+Aquatic centre, Batemans Bay, in August 2025.