Things I know about Harmen Liemburg

12 Jan 2007 Category: Features, Graphics, Worldwide

Harmen Liemburg is an artist/graphic designer/educator from the Netherlands. He is a natural image maker, creating challenging posters and printed materials that bring together a unique sense of form, collage, color, and composition. His work is exciting and weird – there is no ‘easy read’ to the bulk of his work – you need to spend some time with one of his posters to try to decipher what he’s trying to get across.

I met Harmen a few years ago in Los Angeles at CalArts having been introduced by our mutual friend/collaborator Mumbleboy. I hadn’t seen him again until recently - this time in Tokyo. Following a week of hanging out with the man during his time preparing to lecture at Kuwasawa Design School in Shibuya, I wrangled away some of Harmen’s time to talk about his work progress, screen-printing, lectures and why he is fascinated by whaling.

Written by Ian Lynam

First some things I know about Harmen Liemburg:

• He has cute little crow’s feet next to his eyes that come out when he smiles.
  

• Harmen’s final products are often screen-printed and involve a lot of layering, interesting explorations into form-making, and a love for the serigraphic medium.
  

• He speaks of his family with reverence and love.
  

• He has a great desire to work abroad, and has been busting his ass to make that happen. Harmen spent four months of this year teaching in Boston, the summer semester in Minneapolis at MCAD, followed by a lecture trip through different locations in the United States, and a lengthy lecturing and research trip in Nagasaki and the greater Tokyo area.
  

• He likes okonomiyaki and yakisoba a whole lot.
  

• He is enamored with Japanese art old and new. He loves old block prints and papercutting, as well as being smitten by the plethora of characters found on food packaging today.
  

• He is also quite taken with the visual vernacular of old Americana. A lot of classic, slightly campy and outdoor camping! imagery from the U.S.’s National Park Services’ graphic library seem to work into some of his designs.
  

• He’s a charming character, is very direct, questions everything, and is quite frank.
  

• He likes to camp and just get away from the rest of humanity when he can.
  

• He is excellent to get smashing drunk with.
  

Harmen, now that you are here in Japan - have you found any particularly amazing pieces of graphic inspiration during your current trip?

Let’s say this trip is more for deepening and widening my already existing interests. But, you’re asking about graphic inspiration. I’ve gotten a little bit closer to some of my continual interests, like where to find woodblock prints on traditional Japanese whaling, and information on historical toys and other odd stuff. This time I’m looking with a more technical eye at the urban landscape, enjoying neon signs in daylight and keeping an eye out for common purpose educational posters in comic style.

Why are you so fascinated with whaling?

Did you ever read Moby Dick? Well, don’t get me started… I think my fascination has to do with the scale of things. Whales are the largest mammals alive known to man. They live all over the world, and everywhere they came close to man, there’s a long history of local whale catching.

Originally, for indigenous people, catching one whale meant food for a long period of time for a large group of people. It took group effort, collaboration and coordination to fight just one whale. That all changed when industrial whaling was introduced. I’m not talking about 20th century factory ships yet, but about 17th century Dutch sailing vessels in Greenland.

There’s a lot to it: biological, economical, historical, sociological aspects, advertising, adventure, etc… Whale oil lit the ‘civilized’ world in the 19th century, their bones made pretty ladies ‘prettier’ in their hula hoop/hourglass shaped dresses etc. All in all, it’s purely fascinating cultural material.

How was your lecture here in Japan at Kuwasawa Design School?

I think it was good, or good enough. There was a large crowd, but Japanese students tend to be very polite and shy. They seem to have enjoyed it, but you never really know for sure. Also, the fact that every sentence was translated from Dutch into Japanese took the proper pace out of it…

Because I’ve been using characters and graphics from public space in my work, especially Japanese ones, they had some good questions about copyright and such. There were some embarrassing moments for me as well afterwards…

Really? What embarrassed you at your lecture then?

I never learned how to draw creatively, nor have the urge to do so. Yet I want to make images. What I do is basically making collages in print from images I come across wherever I go. In effect, I kind of depend on the quality of material I find… That’s not always a negative thing: I never know what will come out of it myself, so every piece of work is a little adventure at it’s own right. On the other hand, I would like to produce a higher quantity of work faster. Every question about using existing graphics - be it from public space - confronts me with this dependence.

What are your goals in pursuing an aspect of your career as a lecturer/educator in the world graphic design community?

As an educator I don’t have developed a strong clear philosophy yet. I think my work might have a value as it touches folk art, ethnological, geographical and other topics, not necessarily graphic design as such. I like to think one part of my job as a lecturer is to share my enthusiasm and love for things of the common daily life.

Many students think that all answers come out of their G5. I’d like to show them that you don’t need to start with that empty white screen time and time again. I put emphasis to treat the computer as a tool, not a miracle box. You can start building your own library of images and interests right now in your local supermarket and continue to build from there. Inspiration and ideas for great work are literally lying in front of you.

What exhibitions of your work have you done in the past already?

Previously I worked with Jennifer Tee for the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands on a group show. My first solo-exhibitions was in 2005 at the Chaumont Graphic Festival in France. There I worked with the private “Collection Dutailly” that consists of 5.000 lithographic posters from around 1900 and forms the historical foundation of the annual graphic festival. Most of the exhibitions my work has been in until now are group shows, connected to festivals or other events.

Is there any exhibition in particular that was a favorite?

I don’t know yet. I am much more focused on improving my skills and getting more experienced making shows and filling spaces. I think it’s very difficult job, tackling all those new problems all alone, but I’m pretty decisive to learn how to handle it.

You told me about an upcoming exhibition in the Netherlands. What is the plan and general idea behind that one?

The Dutch and the Japanese have a history that goes 400 years back. One particular person, Franz von Siebold, played an important role in exchanging both medical, technical, economical and cultural information between Japan and the western nations when Japan was still completely sealed off from the rest of the world.

The Sieboldhouse, a museum dedicated to the personality and work of von Siebold in Leiden gives me the opportunity to make a connection between their historical collections and contemporary Japan. I’m here in Japan to do some research, collect materials and ideas for the upcoming show.

Your work is obviously very much involved with sceen-printing. When did you start screen-printing and how did you get into it?

I got a taste of it in the third year of the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, but I got hooked after my graduation project where I spent a day every week just doing prints whatever the result. I’m very grateful that Kees Maas, my former screen-printing teacher, gave me the opportunity to work in his studio after graduation.

What do you like about the screen-printing medium so much?

Ah! It’s fast, it’s ‘phat’, it’s direct, it’s big, it’s fairly cheap and it’s powerful and beautiful! I just love to juggle the color separations, anticipating how colors will work together. The best thing is to be in control of you own production. Being independent. If you’re printing yourself, you can stop, revise the colors and change everything in an instant. I think that’s what I like the most.

I always have a pretty good sense of what it’s going to be when I start exposing the screens, but while working, I always change my mind, just because of seeing the material. Besides that, it’s very physical, you can listen to music while working and it has a mediative aspect to it, as well. I think that a certain degree of craftsmanship just brings some kind of satisfaction.

One of your biggest projects so far was to get involved in the architectural ornamentation projects that you have been working on with DP6 for the Dutch Tax Service’s new “Computerpark” in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn. How did that come along so far?

That’s a real long-term project that started in 2002 when I was still collaborating with Richard Niessen. The second tower, Tower No. 2 is almost finished now, thank the Lord, and when I come back from Japan, I will start developing more ornaments for a new swimming pool near Utrecht.

The main challenge of this type of projects is the scale: you’re dealing with the future users of the building, the investors, the architects, the builders and the manufacturers. A very time consuming and complex process. But, at least, the result is monumental! I mean, that building will be there for 50 years or more… I really learned a lot from that first architectural job and hope to do more in the near future.

Did you actually think that you’d be involved in an aspect of architecture, as well as posters and more paper-based graphic design when you first started out?

The direction my career is taking is a surprise anyway. It’s been a long way from social geography and cartography to graphic design to the things I’m doing now anyway. When I started out to be a graphic designer I expected to work for clients most of the time, making books, house styles and what not.

Now, it’s more and more about making connections between cultures and about self-expression. Graphic design for me is in the best sense connected to art. My mentality and approach is that of an artist. It’s an ongoing adventure and hopefully a never-ending means to educate and develop myself, as I truly hope to the benefit and enjoyment of other people as well.

Thank you Harmen for everything! It was great hanging out with you and keep up the good work.

17 Comments

1. Jippie, hier word ik blij van! ^__^

   Posted by: Fem on January 12th, 2007 at 10:31 pm

2. Ik ook!

   Posted by: roeleveld on January 12th, 2007 at 10:57 pm

3. uw werk is trouwens ook niet slecht, meneer roeleveld ^^

   Posted by: Fem on January 12th, 2007 at 11:37 pm

4. b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l stuff

   Posted by: dirk uhlenbrock on January 13th, 2007 at 1:17 am

5. Screen printers of the world unite and take over! Great stuff!

   Posted by: eppbot on January 14th, 2007 at 1:26 am

6. great!

   Posted by: punktpunktpunkt on January 14th, 2007 at 6:00 am

7. COOL!!!!

   Posted by: randy on January 15th, 2007 at 2:14 pm

8. wow man, this guy is just something else!

   Posted by: Mitra on January 16th, 2007 at 2:14 am

9. Another great one!

   Posted by: Michael on January 16th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

10. Wonderful illustration!!

    Posted by: Balakumar Muthu on January 16th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

11. Oh my Gosh
    Nice work he do!

    Posted by: Paavani on January 19th, 2007 at 2:46 am

12. [...] A1one: 1st generation Graffiti in Iran Snack Nagako: Hybrid Salon only for Grown-Ups Haramaki! A granny item made fashionable Things I know about Harmen Liemburg Miya Masaoka: Music Experiments with Laser Koto TOP 5 Wi-Fi Toys At Home Illustration Series #11: Shantell Martin Illustration Series #5: Nobumasa Takahashi Illustration Series #1: Chris Silverthorn [...]

    Posted by: H-ART Pink Maniacs » Essential Graphic Design Literature on January 25th, 2007 at 1:00 am

13. harmen, wat is het toch prachtig wat je maakt!!

    Posted by: mathilde de vriese on March 15th, 2007 at 8:46 pm

14. God Harmen, you make me proud to know you… Great stuff.

    Posted by: Tirso on April 12th, 2007 at 9:10 pm

15. hurrah harmen!!!

    Posted by: kindra on September 17th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

16. my blog

    Posted by: maher diab on November 26th, 2007 at 7:48 pm

17. [...] article up on PingMag about the life and times of Dutch design rocker Harmen Liemburg. Garage Gear’s [...]

    Posted by: Ian Lynam Creative Direction & Graphic Design » Blog Archive » 01.13.2007 on August 20th, 2010 at 10:05 pm

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