Together with KONKAV we highlight a vigorous creative. This time we put a spotlight on Peter van de Riet, the master mind behind OddOne. Born and raised in South Africa he came to the Netherlands to study at the art academy. Peter has been involved in Playgrounds over the years, producing amazing titles for the fest and our Sessions. We asked him to respond to three quotes made by Al Pacino, Raf Simons and Michel Gondry.
“I don’t regret anything. I feel that I’ve made what I would call mistakes. I picked the wrong movie, or I didn’t pursue a character or I played somebody and made some choices… But everything you do is a part of you.” (Al Pacino)
I fully agree, the choices I have made, mistakes or not, have been essential for who I am as a person and creative. I would say one of the biggest decisions I have made that defined a part of me is coming to The Netherlands in 2002 and studying Graphic Design at ArtEZ. Since day one at the art academy visual arts has been a passion and it is a part of who I am as a person. A second big decision was to stop working for a graphic design studio in Rotterdam and to start OddOne. OddOne is a living entity to me, it is something that has gone through a lot and hopefully will be something that will continue growing, changing and adapting.
“With the art world I still have a lot of curiosity. There are a lot of things that I feel attracted to and I don’t necessarily understand them and that’s what fascinates me.” (Raf Simons)
What fascinates me is not the art world as how it is defined in the general sense. It is the sub cultures that fascinate me and how an event can trigger an entire movement where it is not only one piece of art, fashion, music or design but all those things coming together to form one mass. These movements are not born out of a need to be a part of what is already defined but out of a devotion for something that is undefined. Things like skateboarding, techno, gabber, hip hop, punk, brutalist design, dadaism etc. all started from an ideal to rebel and not to be defined but ironically enough to be later defined within pop culture.
“People complain about me that I am immature, and I think I am sometimes immature. And sometimes when I have to deal with a situation with my son or deal with my actors I am mature because I have to be the adult. But it is true that creativity is very much associated with a certain form of immaturity.” (Michel Gondry)
I believe I am mature in the sense that I look after my daughter, have a serious but fun relationship with my girlfriend, pay my bills and I am responsible to my clients. I think I am also mature by being who I am, someone that wears a hat (on most days), likes to play on a skateboard in the office, plays music too loud, has old toys on the shelf and choose not to work for a boss. Some would say that this is immature and I would take it as a compliment. People who love what they do don’t need to work that much.