CHILDHOOD    Born in 1962 in Apeldoorn, Jimmy only stayed two and half years with his own  parents, siblings and family. Until about 20 years old he underwent a state upbringing,  mainly in foster care. The main theme of the system in his upbringing was the total erasure of his original background, gender and 'originality'. 

EDUCATION Unfortunately, Jimmy was unable to get any education due to the circumstances in childhood. He studied various themes in later life, like quantum priciples of light and quantum entanglements, Arabic language and culture, archaeobotany and  prehistoric landscape development. Only in much later life he attended Art Academy in Belgium. 

CREATIVE PERIODS Despite creativity was severly suppressed in his childhood, at the age of 30 Jimmy began painting and drawing in oil and pastel. Besides of figuratives, he made many portraits of baby's, toddlers and young boys. He tried out a variety of art forms, notably nature art,  glass mosaic sculptures, 3D objects and 4D projections. 

From 2020 he decided to commit himself to art, visiting the Art Academy of Tongeren and Verviers in Belgium. He became a member of the joint studio of Fantastike in Maastricht where he stayed until 2023. Meanwhile he created many works as a means of processing past events and to explore gender and identity related subjects. This lead to the making of an 'identity restoration studio' between  2020 and 2024, where he produced about forty large portraits about young boy's  queer identity. 

WORK IN MIX OF AGES  Special work, made in collaboration with younger selves in identity Tim, Alex and Jimmy11,  were presented at some exhibitions and the public loved their work.  Tim and Alex presented themselves for the first time in public during the All- in event in the Bonnefantenmuseum in 2022. 

MEDIA AND PERSPECTIVES While pastel and oil are favorite media, Jimmy works a lot in mixed media and lately he added multimedia to get more layered artforms.  Jimmy,  as from 2026, decided to redraw more from the public area, learning the beautiful Amharic language and engaging in new projects to develop his skills, doing experiments with various new techniques and materials. He reduced  his internet presence, leaving   the  Swedish  SoHo galleri's presence,    and lives a minimalist lifestyle, exploring ways of life, both in arts, games  and sports.    

In addition to visual artist, Jimmy is author under  a pseudonym and illustrator of the work of his close friend, the Dutch poet Lennart Willems.