Merijn Hos

Merijn Hos (aka Bfree) is an artist and illustrator from the Netherlands. He divides his time equally between commercial work and private work for exhibitions. His work is heavily 70s influenced, but being a child of the 1970s could explain why! His use of crazy landscapes, bright colours, abstract looking characters (especially the long legged ones!) and surreal imagery all add to the psychadelic feel. When I look at his illustrations, I can't help but think of the work of German illustrator, Heinz Edelmann, who is famous for his art direction and character designs for The Beatles animated film, Yellow Submarine.

Hos uses different mediums to create his images such as China ink, felt-tip markers, collages made with coloured papers and has even created dolls for the Dilly Show in London and Barcelona in 2005.

His pictures have concurrent elements of ghosts, life and death, friendly and cute expressions and hidden messages. He says a lot of the work reflects on issues in todays society and everyday interaction between people in terms of escapism, organised confusion and friendship and loyalty.