Tribal Echoes

This artwork by van den hooven, titled “Tribal echoes” is a striking example of abstract expressionism with a cubist influence, characterised by its bold use of color and fragmented forms. The piece features two stylized faces, their features deconstructed into geometric shapes and reassembled in a way that evokes both harmony and tension. The faces are rendered in a vivid palette of reds, blues, yellows, and purples, with each section of color sharply delineated by thick, black wax pencil outlines that create a stained-glass ‘granular’ type effect.

The expressions on the faces are intense, with wide, toothy mouths and large, circular eyes that convey a sense of raw emotion — perhaps anger, fear, or a primal scream. The asymmetry of the features, such as the mismatched eye colors (one green, one blue) and the angular, jagged lines of the mouths, adds to the unsettling yet captivating nature of the work.

The surrounding background is a patchwork of darker, muted tones along the bottom of the artwork and more vibrant lighter tones along the top edge. These two zones blend seamlessly into the central focal point –the faces– which creates a sense of depth while maintaining the flat, two-dimensional quality typical of cubist art.

The artist employs a flat application of pure watercolor pigment segments with subtle changes in hue amongst adjacent regions; these isolated areas harmonise well with the overall colour palette and alleviate the harshness of the geometric divisions. The lines delineating these different colour space regions often continue and progress into other sections of the artwork, creating a more compelling composition. This technique, combined with the stark and relatively thick black outlines, creates a dynamic interplay between colour and line, structure and fluidity.

“Tribal echoes” invites viewers to explore the emotional undercurrents beneath its fragmented surface, offering a visceral experience that is both chaotic and deeply human.

Tribal echoes is partly inspired by the mandrill monkey with it’s striking and distinctive crimson & pale blue facial features. This artwork features two areas of genuine Manganese blue PB33 watercolour on the right tribal face distinctive a pigment that has been discontinued for some time, increasing this artworks rarity and thus inherent value.

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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.