Dar, real name Jochem Aalderik van Berne, was born in 1981 in Dongen and grew up in the south of The Netherlands. In 2000 he moved to Rotterdam where he worked for star architects Erick van Egeraat and Rem koolhaas after finishing his study creative communications at the Inholland university. Always looking to balance the analytical with the creative, van Berne explored varied practice of sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the complex relationship between art, life and technology. Explaining: “Art’s about life and it can’t really be about anything else ... there isn’t anything else,” van Berne’s work investigates and challenges belief systems, and dissects the needs at the heart of human experience. 

Van Berne developed his interest in exploring the idea of creative expression as a teenager. From the age of 14, he made regular visits to the streets at night to turn empty walls into colourful pieces. The thrill of doing something that’s illegal combined with the need to ‘pimp’ the world that was otherwise considered as boring was the basis of his work. 

At Erick van Egeraat his understanding of digital versus analogue was developed and explored by making hundreds of case visuals and artist impressions. Translating his style by using Photoshop was an important step.
After working in the advertising industry for 12 years van Berne gave way the need to express his thinking about creating demand; leading to his most important series. ‘NEEDS’ created in 2017-2018 combines contemporary aesthetics with a religious rich feel as powerful manifesto’s on human desires and needs like the need for power, sex and status. The work draws questions on copyright, religion and evokes thinking on a deeper level about ourselves and humanity.