Mental Anguish 3

“Mental Anguish” is a mesmerizing modern watercolor that captivates with its intricate interplay of geometric arcs, straight lines and shapes. The bold, confident lines—both curved and straight—guide the viewer’s eye, creating a dynamic sense of movement and depth.

This new artpiece by van den hooven is a vibrant and dynamic piece that exemplifies the principles of abstract expressionism, successfully combining elements of both cubism and surrealism in the one artwork. The intentionally complex composition draws the viewer’s eye continuously and repeatedly across the artwork.

“Mental Anguish” delves deep beneath a human surface anatomy, and instead looks towards the interior, almost physiology, at what lingers beneath the surface. Not in an accurate medical or scientific sense, but a novel creative way. At what we find inside people’s minds and bodies, how the two may be inter-related, interconnected, interdependent.

Looking at the internal and the external –not individually, but simultaneously– challenges traditional and conventional notions of portraiture and representation, offering a unique and thought-provoking exploration of identity, character and emotion. It is a testament to van den hooven’s ability to blend technical skill with creative vision, resulting in a piece that is as intellectually stimulating as it is visually captivating.

*** Please note that this artwork is slightly torn at the top left corner ***

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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.