Johannes Boekhoudt

Johannes Boekhoudt (Dutch artist, born October 20, 1966) was born in Willemstad, Curaçao, in the Dutch Antilles, and lived his early years on Bonaire. In 1973 he immigrated with his parents to Costa Rica, where he blended easily into Latin American culture. In the 1990s he became a commercial pilot in Costa Rica and the United States; a stint as an air ambulance pilot confronted him with the fragility of life and convinced him that his career as a pilot had run its course.

In 1999 he married Erika and moved to Houston, Texas. The events of September 11, 2001 inspired him to pursue his dream of becoming an expressionist artist and to raise his voice through his paintings. Working from a makeshift garage studio during moves between Houston and McAllen, Texas, he created small-format paintings and began exhibiting in group shows in 2001.

In 2003 he traveled to New York for the first time, presenting photos of his Houston work — including paintings built from crosses, which would become his signature style. During that visit he exhibited at the Venezuelan Consulate art gallery, and a private auction dealer in SoHo who reviewed his works noted that while Picasso and others had incorporated crosses into an artwork, he had not seen the cross style carried across an entire painting. The dealer encouraged Boekhoudt to dedicate himself to the cross technique.