Ludwig Volbeda

The Whatifs

“On my lap lies a sketchbook. A line on paper. Is that line a horizon? I’m putting a dash on the first line. Is that a person in the distance? What if I put dots now? Is it snowing?” These thoughts come from the Whatifs, the little creature that lives in the mind of artist Ludwig Volbeda. The Watals purrs contentedly with a good idea or a successful drawing. But it can also become rabid. Then it keeps running in circles with a single thought in its mouth.

Ludwig Volbeda

Ludwig Volbeda (Oosterhout, 1990) studied illustration at the St. Joost Academy of Art and Design in Breda. His illustrations in the children’s book Fabeldieren (Floortje Zwigtman, 2017) were awarded the prestigious Golden Brush Prize. He lives and works from his home studio in Amsterdam. He loves to fill his walls and notebooks with tiny notes, drawings, sketches, and graphic novels. He has a predilection for displaced people in vast landscapes, fantasy creatures, and strange figures. Everything in detail, everything small and precise.

Volbeda wants to explore with you whether you, too, have a Whatifs in your head. Perhaps he drives you crazy? But feed him and take good care of him, because nothing is as sad as a Whatifs who can’t be woken up. As if a line remains just a line and a dot a dot.