Hello, my name is Elmer and I am an digital artist. I have been making art for more then 20 years. I started off with cartoon-like work and evolved to art with deeper meaning, coming much more from the heart. 

More than 30 years ago I got involved in a violent car crash that left me with a high spinal cord Injury.  It made me almost completely paralyzed, I say almost because I was still able to use my left biceps.  Just enough to move around in an electric wheelchair but also to work with a computer with adapted devices. I dived into Photoshop already from the beginning and learned to work with the many tools it has.

My creativity doesn’t come from a stranger. My mother made 3d wall hangings when I was a young so I grew up with a workshop at the house with lots of materials to be creative with.

My life was for from easy, I had all kinds of problems. Worst was the addiction to drugs. By joining the NA (Narcotic Anonymous) I learned that there was an other way to live, a much more spirituel way. I did the famous 12 steps program and found my heart back after more then 30 years. Also became clear to me what an enormous impact the car accident had on my live.  I wanted to give meaning to all those feelings and convey them to the art I was making. That was the beginning of working with broken glass. The first thing I stared to when I opened my eyes after rolling over twice with my car. I had build a big wall around me over the last 30 years so to find back the real me I had to peel off many layers. Through the cracks of the breaking wall glimpses of light were the first signs of the real me.  This metaphor comes back very often in my latest work. Glass, cracks, bones, my spine, but also light and crystals.

I am a happy man now, almost 3 years clean and very content that I can reveal my feelings and tough life trough the art I make

 

All the best,

 

Elmer Kouwenberg