Name: Jacco Olivier
Age: 39
Occupation: Artist
City/Neighborhood: Amsterdam

What project are you working on now?
While typing this I am in San Antonio for a preliminary visit to Artpace. I am up for a residency in May so I have to think about that as an upcoming project. Besides that, when back home, I want to go to this natural zone inside my head where I think of nothing, don’t feel any pressure, and just fiddle around in paint to see where it takes me. Get some new source paintings done. Later I will review them and hopefully something new will come up.

For your first-ever public art commission in the US, you installed six outdoor animations in Madison Square Park. How does your work change when viewed outdoors? 
The reality factor gets tested outdoors. Suddenly they have to compete with a tree. They have to be as real as the grass.

Half of the videos in Madison Square Park were created specifically for this project. What was your first impression of the park, and how did that translate into your animations? 
In contrast to the rest of the city, the park is a place where I re-find my human scale. It’s a lovely fairytale-like park so I decided to make fairytale-like work for it, on a human scale.

Your process of photographing your paintings in transformation is often described as painterly animation. Do you see yourself more as a filmmaker or as a painter?
I consider myself a painter since that is what I do and what I think I understand. I have a problematical relationship with video art.

Which filmmakers or animators do you most admire?
Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, and Wes Anderson for their motion pictures; John Kricfalusi for Ren & Stimpy; and art-wise, I like the video registrations of the works by Roman Signer.

Your installation at Madison Square Park will be up through March and will be seen by literally thousands of passersby. How would you like people to respond to your work?
I hope it puts a smile on their face. Or even inspires them.

What's the last show that you saw?
The de Kooning retrospective at MoMA.

What's the last show that surprised you? Why?
Edward Hopper at the Tate Modern in London some years back. I came for the Luc Tuymans show but ended up admiring Hopper. I never thought I would like it but was blown away by it. So much better than the placemats.

What's your favorite place to see art?
Inside my head.

Do you make a living off your art?
Yes.

What's the most indispensable item in your studio?
My concentration.

Where are you finding ideas for your work these days?
Everyday domestic life and little happy accidents in paint.

Do you collect anything? 
No.

What's the last artwork you purchased?
The first and last artwork that I purchased was a camouflage houseplant by a fellow student way back in art school. Since then I haven’t bought any art. I find it hard to live with art. I’m too critical to live with anything long enough.

What's the first artwork you ever sold?
A drawing to my mom for a hug, I think.

What's the weirdest thing you ever saw happen in a museum or gallery? 
People walking in circles in an empty museum room in Berlin, every so often shouting, “this is not art!”

What's your art-world pet peeve?
Every so often I find an empty gallery or museum space, every time for different conceptual reasons... argh.

What's your favorite post-gallery watering hole or restaurant?
Don’t have one, any coffee place nearby will do.

Do you have a gallery/museum-going routine?
After a contemporary art spree, I like to go look at old stuff, like the Frick Collection in New York, or the Vermeers at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It calms me down.

Know any good jokes?
I truly wish I did.

What's the last great book you read?
The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster.

What work of art do you wish you owned?
I do not specifically want to own any art, but since you asked, “The Virgin Spanking the Christ Child before Three Witnesses” will do nicely.

What would you do to get it?
Hire somebody to steal it and replace it by a fake.

What international art destination do you most want to visit?
Marfa, but I will be going this summer, so maybe any art destination in Japan then?

What under-appreciated artist, gallery, or work do you think people should know about?
Umm…. pass.

Who's your favorite living artist?
Gerhard Richter. Raoul de Keyser.

What are your hobbies?
I like to play the saxophone but I really absolutely have no talent for it whatsoever. That’s a hobby then, right?

To view images of Jacco Olivier's outdoor video paintings in Madison Square Park, click on the slide show.