"literally Old Wood"

Diederick Kraaijeveld was born in 1963 in The Hague, The Netherlands. He got his masters degree in History at Leiden University (and studied Creative Writing at University of Texas at Austin). He started his professional career as a newspaper journalist in the nineties after travelling for almost a year.

For the last few years as a journalist he has been an award winning investigative reporter for the leading Dutch TV-channel RTL4. Kraaijeveld received the Investigative Award 2005 form the VVOJ (Association for Investigative Journalism The Netherlands and Belgium) for his groundbreaking stories on fraude in the housing of the Board of Directors of the Dutch Social Security system. He turned into being a full time artist recently.

Kraaijeveld is a self taught artist. For a great part of his life he has been collecting things and made art out of that. For years he has been collecting Chinese firecrackers after New Years-eve events in Holland: he would turn the different colourful firecracker-papers into even more colourful collages which he gave away to friends. Found packets of cigarettes (especially the packets of Gauloises he found during travels into France) were turned into monumental works of art. For the last years before starting Oudhout, Kraaijeveld has been sculpting totem poles from found wooden logs at the chateau of his aunt Mizou near Aix en Provence (south of France). He would only give away the things he made…

His first endeavours in Oudhout (literally Old Wood) were given away too: two Citroen DS’s now hang on the wall of two of his dear friends who share a passion for that French car. Kraaijeveld is more into American muscle cars: his first piece of art in Oudhout was a Mustang 1966, once the proud wheels of the artist himself…

Oudhout’s cars and other icons are made of reclaimed wood Kraaijeveld finds during his travels and daytrips in Holland and abroad. No dumpster in front of old buildings is safe for Oudhout, there is no beach (whether along the North Sea, the Mediterranean, the Indian, Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean) uncombed…
Oudhout searches for painted wooden planks and floorings in old mansions in the inner cities of Holland and centuries old farmhouses in the more rural areas. During renovation the artefacts are thrown into metal dumpsters, and Oudhout has an eye for those things: old green, yellow and red flooring from the days Rembrandt was still alive finds its way to his self built warehouse in Hilversum (just outside Amsterdam). Because Oudhout is becoming well known in Holland, he sometimes gets tipped when antique planks are being removed from old buildings.

After visting his aunt in the south of France the family-van (Oudhout is the proud father of three kids) is not loaded up with bottles of wine (as the Dutch usually do) but with old Franch doors and shutters. They make really nice pick up trucks…

Every Saturday Oudhout is allowed to roam the premises of one of Hollands leading recyclers to pick out the best old wood from the heaps of garbage. He has an arrangement with the firm it only dumps the nice old wood, if Oudhout is present.

To make his art – not only cars, but also icons like tennis shoes, a coffee cup or a ketchup bottle – Oudhout uses different types of saws. Every piece of his assemblages/collages is genuine colored vintage wood. No paint is used, not even a driblet.

There is no way to say how long it takes to make his art: it can take weeks or much longer, depending on the availability of wood, inspiration and complexity of the piece….Because a piece can only really be judged when it is finished, not all his work finds its way out of his atelier in an old schoolhouse…

Oudhouts life and work has been featured in leading Dutch magazines, newspapers and television (Elsevier, Seasons a.o.). Oudhout will be featured in the leading American vintage car magazine Autoaficionado in the spring of 2008.

His art has found its way to private collectors in Holland and abroad (New York, Los Angeles in the USA, London, UK, Frankfurt, Germany) and in corporate collections (American Express, Biomet, Heinz Corporation, Pacific Tank Lines and Audi to name a few).

Oudhout sometimes works on commission…
His work is at the moment featured at Gallerie Amsterdam, Carmel-by-the sea, California.. In the spring of 2008 his work will be on display in New York. He has the privilege to be featured in the upcoming Motoart Art Gallery in Las Vegas, in 2009. Oudhout has had various solo-expositions in Amsterdam, Holland.