Mark Janssen

This spring in the Kunsthal you can view our fascinating planet through the eyes of Ava, a girl who gives the space alien Moon a tour of Earth. Dive into the cheerful world of the two new friends and get the chance to follow in the illustrator's footsteps.

With his illustrations, Mark Janssen makes stories shine in color, shape, movement and adventure. He works in various ways, including detailed pencil work or realistic watercolor painting. The illustrator is best known for his imaginative and colorful picture books. To do this, he makes drawings with paint on paper that he later digitally composes into the final image that appears in the book. Some of these digital prints contain more than three hundred separate drawings!

Winner of Most Beautiful Book Cover 2023

His most recent picture book Home (2023), which recently won the prize for Most Beautiful Book Cover 2023, forms the starting point for the exhibition Home on Earth. Animated images in the Kunsthal show how space alien Moon accidentally lands on Earth. Ava finds him and, together with her dog Wolfie, shows him around their planet: her home. Together they admire the dazzling nature, sturdy panthers, cheerful birds and graceful fish. Moon seems to be having a good time, but then suddenly leaves, much to Ava's chagrin. Where did he go? In addition to the adventures of Ava and Moon, original drawings from previous books by Janssen are also on display, which provide insight into Janssen's working process from first drawings to final composition.