My friend Rafael Rozendaal

This is my deflowering on the Obey-blog .

I’m Bram Swarte, 34 years old and I live in Amsterdam. It will not get more personal than this blog-post. Do not worry.

I grew up in Maastricht, the most southern tip of the Netherlands. I am the only child of my parents and was about 12 when I met Rafael Rozendaal. In contrast to our environment Rafael and I loved punk and metal. We became brothers. We made movies meant to be funny, we attempted to skate, we listened to Bad Brains and drew until we fell down.

(Rafael and me, 1994)

Rafael went to art school and was picked up at a young age. He was always traveling and gained lots of succes.
His work is often funny, like this website about farting. Sometimes sad. For me it’s infinite and gives hope.

Rafael Rozendaal is most well known for his moving images and websites. He quickly discovered that selling his work meant that he would never see his creation again. This led him to turn to printmaking, allowing him to still keep a copy himself. This belief of Rozendaal’s was furthermore awakened with the invention of the internet. Allowing him to use this platform as a free space to connect with potential audiences. Rafael Rozendaal is one of the first artists to sell his websites as art objects.

Although I admire his work tremendously, we barely speak to each other and now he’s getting married to Christina next sunday in New York. I’ll be in Amsterdam.

Congratulations buddy.