Phubar Development is an imaginative company that took shape in 2006 by Denys Steffers and Herbert Zeegelaar, concentrating on graphic art and multimedia concepts. It is settled in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

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About the painter: Tobias de Haan, www.tobiasdehaan.nl, mail@tobiasdehaan.com

Tobias de Haan was born at 29 of march 1980 in a Dutch city called Utrecht.
Utrecht the city Tobias grew up in had, with its medieval city center and huge church tower called the Dom Tower an enormous influence in the early artistic expressions of Tobias.
In the drawings he made as a child you could often find the city sky-line or famous buildings, not only from Utrecht but from all over the world.
Later on from the age of 15 imaginary buildings and cities in a more surreal style became more important in the works of Tobias de Haan.
In the year 2000 Tobias was accepted at the Art academy of Utrecht, unless the fact that he had a very interesting time there Tobias already decided  after four mounts to quit his study.
The study he thought would help him to learn more about the history of classic and modern art forms and technical aspects of the different type of arts was to abstract orientated for him.
After he quit his study in the beginning of 2001 he started painting as an autodidact.
He finished his first painting later that year: Amsterdam in the future.
It was a surreal picture of Amsterdam with the Dam palace in a distant future; With modern buildings build around and above the old city center.
From the first painting of Tobias de Haan he used only one technique: Oil on canvas.
This because of the deep and intense colors and the possibility to paint in layers.
Because of the way oil paintings has to be painted in layers Tobias could go on until he reached a for him satisfying result.
In later works playing with the point of perspective becomes more important.
A good example is the third painting Tobias painted: The Dom Tower of Utrecht.
This is a painting of the Dom Tower seen from above, the way perspective was used in this painting is almost trying to make you feel the movement of flying near the Tower.
From 2002 Tobias also started to paint still-live paintings.
First he started to paint still-live paintings only to capture the technique required to make just a very realistic painting, but from the first still-live he completed a new passion for still-live painting was born.
“Not only the technique but also finding a way to keep still-live painting from being boring is still a challenge enough for me to keep on trying to make a new more interesting one”so he says.
Still his first passion: architecture is still dominating the theme of his most recent paintings.
His last painting called: The Cathedral of Milan is painted in a surreal environment, the darkness of the night with only the light from the moon and stars, with in the middle a shiny almost white Cathedral, the Cathedral of Milan. Again painted in an exaggerated perspective.
Imaginary cities and buildings also has played an important role in the paintings of Tobias de Haan.
From The tower of Babel and Amsterdam in the future one of the early paintings, imaginary places and buildings are already there.
And in one of his last paintings: Church interior, it all comes together: It is an imaginary church interior painted from an impossible point of view, seen from above at the moment you are about to fall down and still you can feel the silence of the environment as well.

by
Simon Bontius.