Original artwork description:

Geert Wilders is a popular Dutch right-wing politician who expresses a dislike of Islam on a continuing basis.

After hearing him speak on television one night I realized that even though he speaks out against muslims he needed their presence to become a big figure in Dutch politics. And that's of course exactly what you see on this painting: small portraits of muslims making Wilders a larger than life figure.

There are about 750 little portraits of muslims that make up the larger portrait of Wilders.

It took a lot of head scratching and all of my skills as a painter to get it right. After two months of painting full time I was finally satisfied.

I showed The Prophet on several occasions and it seems that people can't stop talking about it. They all have opinions about this piece. It's quite a conversation starter for sure.

Upon release The Prophet appeared in an item about Wilders on the morning edition of the Dutch national news show. For some unknown reason they stopped using it in later editions of the show that day.

Although the Prophet is easy to recognize as one of my paintings, both subject matter and the mosaic style of painting are unique to my oeuvre. There won't be another painting like it.

Materials used:

Acrylic on masonite

Tags:

#muslims #geert wilders #right wing #pvv #portrait #painting #figurative #realism #photorealism #hyperrealism #dutch #mosaic #politics #current affairs #islam