Creating has always been second nature to me.
As a child, I was constantly drawing and making things. That passion led me to study Graphic Design in Eindhoven and build a career in design. After working at several agencies, I started my own design studio in 2005.
For years, my work focused on visual communication with a clear purpose: a client, a message and an audience. Then my perspective on creativity began to shift.
When my father retired, he started painting purely for the joy of creating. What fascinated me wasn't just the artwork itself, but the way he worked.
The process mattered more than the outcome. Sometimes he would even paint over finished pieces to start something new. Watching him challenged everything I had learned as a designer, where the final result had always been the goal.
Inspired by that freedom, I created my first digital collage. I began experimenting without a brief, a client or a specific objective.
In the summer of 2010, I shared one of those collages online. The very next day, a gallery contacted me to ask if more work existed and whether they could exhibit it. That unexpected moment gave me the confidence to fully embrace my artistic practice.
Storytelling remains at the heart of everything I create. Every collage begins with an idea, a memory or a story waiting to be explored. Some works are personal, while others draw inspiration from history, culture, vintage Americana, muscle cars, tattoo culture and urban life.
My work combines photography, typography, found imagery and mixed-media techniques.
Most pieces start digitally in Photoshop before evolving into physical artworks through screen printing, paint and layered materials on wood, cardboard or canvas. This combination of digital and handmade processes gives each piece its own texture, depth and character.
Since 2020, I have expanded my storytelling through Augmented Reality (AR), adding layers of animation, audio and video that viewers can discover by scanning selected artworks with their smartphones.
I create work that invites people to look beyond the first impression. Artworks that reveal new details, stories and meanings over time.
Donald van Schilt