Ivar Zanzibar

I embrace an unpolished way of creating. Polish strips character from a composition. Coming from a background where perfection is the norm, I actively work against that mindset. Instead, I let layers of imperfections blend together into an engaging image or print.

My conviction has been strengthened by the rise of generative artificial intelligence. AI has slowly created an expectation that artworks should be ultra-polished, instantly available, and free for anyone to use. I counter this zeitgeist by making unpolished work that belongs only to me. I distribute it only as myself. No middleman, no machine.

The work I make is shaped by the music and media I consume. Namely music of my cultural heritage that is Surinam’s Kawina and Kaseko, but also HipHop, Funk and Soul that I grew up with. Visual media includes storybooks that inspired me as a child or West-African diaspora related art objects including the stories that belong to them. Periodically, my influences shift, and so does my subject matter. I don't stick to one theme. But I do allow myself to introduce familiar elements that reappear across different pieces. Those repetitions, a texture, a gesture, a way of breaking an edge are what hold my collective work together. They are the signature beneath the rawness.