Eelco “The Virus” painting at Crossfit Brooklyn

Eelco van den Berg is visiting NYC for the week from the Netherlands. This past summer when Eelco was here, he did six walls in seven days. So after finding out that he was only doing one this time, we knew we had to catch it in action.

Eelco sizing up the wall

Eelco’s process begins with a photograph that he then sketches onto the wall with a light color spray paint. This allows him to visualize the space and start setting the outline that will be filled in piece by piece.

Eelco’s outline

Eelco’s illustration background always shows in his use of color and shape and his subject matter of late has been mostly animals. He told us about his creative process, “I start with a fox but don’t hold myself to that.” His fanciful characters are always a hit and we were ecstatic to see the forms take shape.

Eelco filling in the left eye of the fox

Eelco begins with a base layer over each shape calculating the size and coating very carefully. It is useful to note that there was not a single stencil used in the creative process. He sizes up every square inch and paints to perfection.

Eelco outlines the pupil of the fox

Over the course of two days, Eelco continued to fill in piece by piece. The tireless efforts of the artist have not gone unnoticed. Eelco had many visitors over the two days including two documentarians that wanted footage of him for their films. We were happy to catch him in action, and can’t wait for him to come back to NYC in March. For more, please check out his website.

Detail shot of the Commissioned piece by Eelco van den Berg for Bushwick Crossfit