Artist Marcel Hoof (Weert, 1967) graduated from the Fontys Academies Tilburg (NL) as a teacher in Arts and Art History. Since 1993 his work is shown at many exhibitions at galleries, museums and art fairs
Van Hoef’s travels are of vital importance to the devolopment of his art. Since 1992, he has often visited Spain and Italy, but the most important destination within Europe is Berlin. As part of his education, he travels there in 1988 (a year before the collapse of the Berlin Wall). In 1991, this trip brings forth its first fruits; his fascination for the continuous metamorphosis of this city proves inexhaustible to Van Hoef and leads him to return there yearly to work for short periods since then.
This fascination for the aspect of 'change' gives rise to several visits to areas in central Asia. The shared characteristic for Van Hoef's travels is his interest in these processes of change (be they in political, social, economic and/or cultural fields) which his destinations, either recently or in more continued historical context, have undergone.
In 1995, Van Hoef traveled on the Trans-Siberian Express and visited places in Russia, Mongolia and China. And his subsequent travels, in 1996, 1999 and 2000, to countries along the Silk Route, such as Uzbekistan, Kirgistan, Pakistan and Northwest China) as well as to the Middle East all proved of significant influence on his work. More recent a visit in 2006 to Hong Kong caused a change of the thematic focus in is paintings. The recent works show urban landscapes where the perception of reality is artificial, constructed and far removed from the ‘normal’ idea of nature. From 2008 he visited cities like Hong Kong, Tokio, Dubai, Singapore and Beijing. These travels provide source material for recent work.