Ronald Hunter: Upbeat and Fresh

Hi Ronald, thank you for giving us the chance to get to know you better through this interview. Let's start at the beginning: when did you decide to become an artist?

I went to the art academy and started working as a graphic designer, which I did for many years. I always had a wish to create a product that I could sell online. I explored furniture, accessories, clothing, even a line of underwear. 

It’s funny in hindsight, because all the while I was searching for a goal I painted, but it never occurred to me I could turn that into a profitable business. After a while, I recognized the opportunity, and although some would say I was crazy, I decided to sell my art online. 

That was about 10 years ago, and I have been making a living with art ever since. From modest beginnings in a small studio (my first studio was in the basement of my home), I now have my own gallery in Rotterdam and a team around me. My art has already been shipped to buyers to 56 countries!

How does your background in graphic design play into your current artistic process? And what made you move away from the world of graphic design?

Graphic design to this day is a major source of inspiration. Because I designed so many things over the years, I developed a certain way of looking at colors, shapes and compositions, that certainly influences my art. 

I have a lot of ideas for my own art. Ideas grow, and some I will work out in my mind. And since I have done so much already, there are many paths I can follow to make new things, based on previous work.

For someone with such international renown, you could easily charge 10 times more for your paintings. What drives you to keep your prices low? 

The first painting I ever sold was just 150 EUR – and that included shipping. You can imagine, I didn’t earn a lot back then. But I wanted people to get to know me, and establish a name for myself. I recognized that everyone has to start from scratch. After a while, I sold enough to become a full time independent artist.

My goal is to keep my art affordable for a broad public. The most important thing for me as an artist is the response of the buyer. That is ultimately what I make art for. It’s nice to see how my art becomes part of the interior and therefore part of the family.

I see myself as an entrepreneur and an artist. I design products that are useful for people, just like a furniture designer or an architect. I’d rather see my paintings hanging in people’s homes than having a painting in a museum collection. So to raise my prices too much would defeat this purpose.

What are some of the challenges you face when pledging to keep art affordable all the while having overhead and needing to, of course, make a living?  

Because I want to keep my art affordable, I need to create multiple paintings every week. I work on a tight schedule, and I practice my skills every day. 

It also affects the medium I work with. I like to work with is acrylic paint, because it dries faster than oil paint. My paintings are built up from many layers, so I usually work on several paintings simultaneously. 

Another thing that I do to keep my art affordable, is that I will revisit the styles that sell well, and create the style in series again. Each style is developed over time, and every piece is unique. 

An example is my “Panels” series, that holds a special place in my collection. It is inspired on a large wooden table I used to work on in my old studio. The table was covered in paint, and a buyer who visited my studio one day remarked that the table was an artwork in its own right. That triggered me, and I wanted to recreate the feeling of the table on canvas. With the varying colors and textures, it turns out to be an endless source of inspiration.

I am continuously looking for new styles to work out in series. One of my latest successful series is “Traffic”, a series characterized by graphic shapes in contrasting colors.

An important cornerstone of my collection are the pop art portraits. I start by searching for the right color balance and use larger and smaller typography to shape the background. As soon as the shape / color feels balanced, I decide which portrait fits best. The way the lines play a role in the experience of the face is interesting to me. You wonder: am I looking at the shapes or the face? It’s clearly a face, but it shouldn’t be too distracting from the entire painting.

You must have a favorite project you’ve worked on in the past. If you can tell us, what is it?

One of my favorite projects was a large portrait I painted for the foyer of a hotel in USA (see image). Would be great to see it hanging there with my own eyes someday.

I developed a certain way of looking at colors, shapes and compositions, that certainly influences my art.

Ronald Hunter

Describe your work in three words or less:

Upbeat & Fresh.

Your favorite food to eat when traveling:

Pancakes.

Type of music you listen to when working:

Indie & Rock music.

Your favorite book: 

1984 by George Orwell.

Favorite artist(s) of all time:

Stanley Kubrick (not really an artist in the traditional sense, but to me his work is art).