Crooked Teeth in an Octopus' Garden brings together ten years of Simon's artistic development and shows how his work moves between figuration and material exploration. In the period 2015–2025, Simon's practice has undergone a major transformation. Painting remains central, but he increasingly seeks out space and establishes connections with other disciplines. What began as painting has grown into a versatile, multidisciplinary practice in which paintings, murals, sculptures, and installations come together.
The subjects Simon chooses seem simple: stray dogs, sharks, squid, and rocky seascapes, but they are not illustrations from a book about animals or nature. They wrestle free from the paint. His work is a continuous struggle between form and content, between painted matter and the image that emerges from it. The medium itself is part of the message. Because the animals he paints are often associated with danger or fear, there is also a certain aggression lurking in the images, reflected in the treatment of the surface and the materiality. This dialectic flirts with expressive abstraction: images emerge from the material but seem to immediately merge back into it, forcing the viewer to rediscover what they see time and again. Ultimately, what moves on the canvas is the painterly gesture itself.
With the publication of *Crooked Teeth in an Octopus’ Garden*, this period is presented for the first time in a carefully designed publication.
The book contains contributions from various figures involved in the art world, each reflecting on Simon’s work in their own way. Ranti Tjan wrote the foreword and places his work in a broader art-historical context. Painter and graffiti pioneer Niels ‘Shoe’ Meulman wrote an essay in which he addresses the painterly and experimental aspects of his practice. Additionally, Nico Thöne, Director of Make Eindhoven, delves deeper into Simon’s work process and the development of his practice over the years in a studio conversation. Together, these contributions offer a nuanced picture of his work and the path he has taken in recent years.
UDC-20: Simon Schrikker - Crooked Teeth in an Octopus' Garden
Graphic design: ATTAK
format: 210 x 270 mm
inside: 192 p., 4+4, Arctic Volume White 130g
cover: 4+0, Geltex 111-Y/K 115g
binding: hardcover, thread sewn, 2,5 mm board, flat spine, h&t band