At the age of nineteen, Deelstra was dragged away from his computer by his friends and taken on a trip. When he embarked on his first journey through a rainforest in Ecuador, he couldn’t help but conclude that it felt as if he were walking through a replicated jungle in a zoo. The only things missing were the emergency exit sign and the corresponding door to the outside.

These accumulations of ideas and images, and the resulting confusion for Deelstra, are central to the series Tropical Hazards (2018) and reach a climax. Deelstra: ‘In movies, books, games, tropical swimming pools, zoos: people encounter copies of reality every day. We know what New York looks like without ever setting foot there and what it feels like to walk in the jungle. A Moroccan tea garden can be found right

in the Dutch countryside. During the creative process, I often wonder: am I painting reality? Or am I creating copies of it - and generating my own reality?’

In the years following his adventure in South America, Deelstra developed a taste for travel. A sketchbook and pencils were a permanent part of the contents of his backpack. The slums overflowing with stray dogs in India, the Mexican markets echoing with mariachi songs, the colourful street vendors in Colombia: Deelstra eagerly absorbed it all. In the evening, upon returning to his lodging, he would take out his sketchbook. These sketches would later serve as inspiration for various paintings in this series.

Back in his studio in his home country, the im- ages seemed surreal and in stark contrast to the neatly arranged landscapes in the Netherlands. ‘I’ve always been a fan of surrealism, but the oddity of surreal paintings pales in comparison to the reality in some countries. It’s said that Salvador Dalí once went to Mexico for inspiration but returned to Spain after a few days. He didn’t want to stay in a country that was stranger than his own work.’