PEDRO BAKKER

Innocent

If behind every door there lies a story, Dutch artist Pedro Bakker’s (b. 1952) second artist book with Onomatopee—part drawing, part writing—opens many doors. Innocent is a hybrid of autobiography and cultural-political quest in which the artist illustrates the various tensions among love, power and powerlessness. Product of an eight-month residency in China sponsored by the Dutch embassy and the Mondriaan Fund, Bakker’s colorful images narrate a blend of personal and fictional stories. Writings are sometimes paired with images, and sometimes inserted to separate groups of drawings creating chapters. Through his figurative reflections on human relationships, political relations and his own life, the artist interrogates our involvement in questions of guilt and innocence, all the while allowing the line demarcating the two to remain tremulous. In image and word, the book layout captures the diverse voices and rhythms populating Bakker’s vision. Contributions by Pedro Bakker, Hanne Hagenaars, Jelle Bouwhuis, Freek Lomme, Laurens ten Kate and Rollergirl.

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