Selwyn Senatori the artist & Hans Breuker
Hans Breuker creates art in all styles, and certainly also in the style 'of' Selwyn Senatori and Hans Breuker. Selwyn is an artist from Hoorn. His Italian roots are clearly present in his love for food and drink. We share that!
His paintings are an ode to life, love, champagne rock and roll, and a vibrant style that is very recognizable and consistently uses the same colors.
The unfortunate thing about all this is that I've always drawn in this style! Anyone who ever sat next to me in class knows I was always drawing. From graffiti to graffiti characters.
I never thought you could make a profession out of this. Until I walked into a gallery in 2015 and saw Senatori's art. €4,500 for a canvas with little figures that I also make! So the question is, will I do this too? With a clear conscience? Or will I not do it because someone beat me to it? Fortunately, I didn't become an artist because I want to stick to rules, ha! And if you ask me, you can immediately see who the artist is. The world is big enough. Plenty of walls. I don't take it all so seriously. And no matter what you make or do, there's always criticism.
And don't tell me Selwyn didn't make almost the same figures as Herman Brood. Come on. We all build on each other. It's just a style. And I enjoy it immensely. And if people are inspired by my Andy the Dandys or my stencils or pop art, be my guest.
I make what I feel like making, I also create pop art and stencil works, nothing is copied, everything comes directly from my own hand.
Consequence for you? Mine is a little bit more affordable ;-)
I make a lot of art inspired by that art. Also many painted works that I create on commission. So if you are looking for this style for a normal price, click here for almost 100 works.
Selwyn Senatori style
The style is recognizable, especially his earlier work about food was super recognizable: the tablecloth with the blue checks, the lobster with eyes, the lemons, and of course the dancing wine glasses. Food and drink and Italians! Well. It's certainly not Dutch.
Food is also a good choice, I think, commercially speaking, because many people want "something" hanging in the kitchen and dining room, and such scenes are accessible and popular.
Selwyn Senatori characters
This is where I, Hans Breuker, fell head over heels. I've always drawn little figures. I did a lot of graffiti back in the day and was always obsessed with characters and crazy tough dolls. The first ones I fell for were the Amsterdam graffiti artists: the crazy dentist with the tooth, from cat 22 - cece and Pone.
I absolutely adored that style, even though my own writing style was a bit more angular. Along with Again, Rezt, Delta, and Jaz, they were my sources of inspiration that I saw in Amsterdam. From magazines, of course, CES, COPE, and those old-school kings.
Selwyn Senatori heads
So I always drew heads and figures myself; my early youth was non-stop drawing and reading comics. So when I walked into the Kunsthuizen gallery in 2015, I was absolutely flabbergasted. I was making the same heads that Selwyn Senatori made! And the canvases were being bought! And for thousands of euros. A light bulb went off in my head. I had never, ever thought that people could make a living from these illustrations, this art.
Selwyn Senatori art
So I immediately bought paint and got to work. And even though I had a successful business, my old passion was revived. Pandora's box was open and there was no way to close it. The art flowed from my hands and I sold a lot. But then, that didn't go unnoticed. Of course, it's supposedly not cool to copy art. But then again, I was already making those heads. Just not publicly. Should I stop then? No way!
Selwyn Senatori and Herman Brood
Then I did some research and found out that Selwyn, of course, copied that other very famous Dutch artist, Herman Brood. The first heads in Selwyn's work are almost exact copies of Herman Brood's. And Brood must have seen them elsewhere. His early work strongly resembles Peter van Straaten's. And so we could go on and on. In short, everyone inspires each other.
Hans Breuker and Selwyn Senatori style
So yes, a large part of my collection (I call it the Bad Boys collection) is based on the style of Herman Brood and Senatori. But I naturally want to apply my own ideas to it and make it very different from theirs.
Copycat
You know. Criticism and comments are standard. Anyone involved in art and creativity can be accused of plagiarism and style-biting. No matter what you do. Whether I'm working on Grrouch the Cat, abstract work, graffiti, or cartoons, it always seems to resemble something. My personal goal is not at all to create unique work. I just make what I feel like and what I enjoy. I find the characters, the bad boy club, fantastic to create, and you'll get criticism anyway.
I'd rather fail at something I truly love to create than things I make just for money. And I LOVE THIS style!
Expanding the style
I'm currently working on a JAZZ collection and I also want to create a detective-like atmosphere, a hard-boiled 40s-50s Dick Tracy series with tough guys and sultry ladies. Mysterious, exciting, like a movie. I'm also very inspired by 70s kung fu movie posters and am looking for a way to integrate that. In short, plenty of work to do. But I also want to highlight the pub life that I love so much, a bit in the style of Peter van Straaten, more melancholic. A bit more Acda en De Munnik; it should be called Brussels here.
Buy Selwyn Senatori
A canvas by Selwyn will cost you no less than €3,000. Because I mainly work digitally, you can buy a poster from me for €39.95. A considerable difference. That also suits me better. I mainly create my work on the iPad because it's wonderfully fast, which totally suits me, hahaha. Nice and rough and quick.
Many Men Painted on canvas 180 x 80 cm €950
The art (trick)
I (and probably Selwyn too) am sometimes accused of it being a superficial art trick. That there's no growth in it and that it's simple. Well. Too many opinions. Fortunately, I have many people who like my work and want to buy and hang it! I'm super proud of that and it's where I find my satisfaction.
How many people can say they are truly, genuinely happy? I am 100% happy, all those rules you're supposedly supposed to follow. Kiss my ass.
Rules
When I sprayed graffiti, it was all so serious too. In the beginning, I wasn't 'good' and people didn't want to sketch in my blackbook or vice versa. Or I wasn't allowed in a crew, or I hadn't understood that you couldn't put a crown above your own tag, or that it was strange that I used the last two letters of my tag as a throw-up. Or that the 'c' looked too much like CES'. Pfff. When I started, I found that underground world amazing. For me, every graffiti writer was one of us.
But among themselves, there was only hatred. This one thought that one was fake, that one thought that one was a toy, etc., etc. I found and still find that really stupid. If someone has the same passion as you, namely graffiti, letters, colors, and creativity, then you should welcome them to the club. I've always felt that way. And not because I did or didn't belong, I wasn't serious enough about it anyway. I wanted to go out more and be with girls.
Art and creativity should precisely stay away from rules. If someone copies Grrouch the Cat, so be it. Maybe they do it better than me. They do have to sign with their own name, but who cares?!
Celebrate creativity.
Do what you want, f*** other people's opinions. Experiment, make what brings you joy. I make what I enjoy. Whether that's in the style of Banksy, Herman Brood, or Selwyn Senatori, f*** it. People will always want to buy from him, and others will want to buy from me. There are 8 billion people and a multitude of walls and houses, so plenty to do!
New style Selwyn Senatori?
As I said, I already drew like Selwyn when I was young. Does his fame stop me from continuing in this style? No, of course not. Art is meant to break the rules. So I continue to experiment with this style. In 2023, I created this work:
I love going wild with paint, drip pens, and graffiti. This wild art attracts me. So I want to move in that direction myself. For a long time, I searched for suitable surfaces where the drips could really stand out. I succeeded. A kind of industrial plastic cardboard, it gives off that shiny finish which makes it look super cool. It also stays wet for a nice long time.
This work is called: 'it's a jungle out there' and is 80 x 60 cm in size, and for me it's a metaphor for art mixed with doing business in this crazy world.