Robert Vanderhorst
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Robert Vanderhorst is a Canadian surrealist artist, based in Toronto, Ontario.
He is a self-taught artist with a talent inherited from his father and a technique born of a strong Dutch tradition in art. He emigrated from the Netherlands to Canada in 1951.
In 1979, he began publishing limited edition lithographs of his images under Vanderhorst Graphics. His passion for aviation, aircraft design, antique and classic wooden boats, and his love for Muskoka and Northern Ontario can be seen in many of his works of art.
In 1973, Robert held his first solo exhibition in Toronto. In 1979, he was awarded a Canada Council arts grant for the creation of new works. Over the next three decades, Vanderhorst's imagery would be used in many diverse ways ranging from aviation book covers and illustrations in psychology journals to record jacket designs for Nash the Slash and FM to Mickey Hart's experiments in percussion with Rolling Thunder. His paintings would go on to be featured in almost thirty exhibitions.
Vanderhorst was one of just over a dozen artists to be awarded a commission by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority to create an original painting for the new Pearson International Airport. The painting, The Jetliner, depicts the world's first short range jet transport, designed and built in Malton, Ontario by Avro Canada. Robert has also painted Canada's most famous aircraft, the Avro Arrow. The painting was acquired by the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa, and is now part of their permanent art collection.
Vanderhorst's surreal style and details imagery appeals to collectors with an eye for art and an open mind. The bizarre imagination and attention to fine detail in the classical paintings of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí was the initial inspiration for Robert's exploration into surrealism. His work also reflects the influence of three additional artists whom he considers masters as well as mentors. The ironic and profound juxtapositions of the images of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, the hauntinigly mathematical and exacting graphics of M.C. Escher, and the superb mastery of light and technique of Vermeer, have provided Vanderhorst with a visual and technical foundation upon which his canvases are built. "With surrealism, I try to create imagery that makes demands and asks the viewer to participate," says Robert. "The scenes can be confusing and troublesome, but still impart an odd sense of cohesion and normalcy."
