winner GERRIT BENNER award 2021

O.C. Hooymeijer (Vlaardingen, 1958) has been awarded the 2021 GERRIT BENNER Prize in recognition of the important artistic development in his work. Hooymeijer will receive a cash prize of €5000 and an exhibition in the Fries Museum, which will run from 27 November 2021 to 6 March 2022. The art prize will be presented by representative Sietske Poepjes on 26 November 2021 at the opening of the exhibition. O.C. Hooymeijer lives in Spanga, in a house with a studio on the periphery of the Rottige Meente, a bird area par excellence. The artist is known for his expressionist series ‘The Great Exotic Bird Show’ and his drawings and descriptions of ‘non-existent birds’. The latter works are collected, among others, in his book ‘Guide to the Non-existent Birds of Europe, which was nominated for the Jan Wolkers Prize in 2019. Since September 2020, his non-existent birds have been featured in a weekly column in the daily newspaper Trouw under the name ‘De Wondere Vogelwereld van O.C. Hooymeijer’ (O.C. Hooijmeyers’ Wonderful Birdworld).

Frisian artists submitted their applications to be considered for the GERRIT BENNER Prize 2021 early in the year. An independent advisory committee consisting of specialists from the field eventually chose three nominees, with Hooymeijer being selected as the winner. The other nominees were Machteld van Buren and Bouke Groen.

This year, the jury consisted of: Stina van der Ploeg, art historian; Dirk van Ginkel, journalist and editor of art magazines and books; Rieke Vos, curator at Het HEM: home for contemporary culture in Zaandam; Noor Mertens, curator and, since June 2021, head of Kunstmuseum Bochum, an urban museum for modern and contemporary art in the heart of the Ruhr area; and Hans Hoekstra, artist and teacher at Minerva Academy.

O.C. Hooymeijer
Visual artist O.C. Hooymeijer (Vlaardingen, 1958) graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam in 1981. He gained national recognition with his striking series of paintings and drawings. Among other places, his works have been exhibited in the Natuurmuseum Fryslân, Museum Jan van der Tocht and the Amsterdam Museum.