Eric Schreurs

Eric Schreurs was born in 1958 in the city of Leiden. His mother was no older than eighteen years when she gave birth to her first son, and the young family lived with the grandparents for several years. Legend has it that young Eric filled his school books with all kinds of filth. "My grandson is a dirty, filthy bastard," wrote the loving grandmother during Eric's early puberty. Before his twenties, Schreurs knew for sure that he was born to be a comics artist.

After attending the art school in Den Haag (The Hague), Eric Schreurs dedicated his total working life to the comic. He made his debut in De Vrije Balloen, a highly satirical periodical. After this, Schreurs started with the short stories 'Knier Zwellever' and 'Geharrebar' until he finally found his goal with his most famous character 'Joop Klepzeiker' for the magazine Nieuwe Revu.

When he conceived the eternal loser Joop Klepzeiker, Schreurs made a breakthrough to the big Dutch audience. The Klepzeiker comics were sold more than 1,000,000 times (on a total population of 15,000,000!). Besides 'Klepzeiker', Schreurs penned an impressive oeuvre, notably the satirical '1984' (in 1984) and the suicidal 'Adrianus'. Eric also created 'Dick van Bill' with Hein de Kort and illustrated the book 'Recreatie', written by Theo van Gogh.

Schreurs is the Hieronymus Bosch of modern Dutch comics. Various statues of his comic heroes were made, and he is one of the few artists who has his own fan club.

For three years in the early nineties Eric Schreurs had a personal crisis and completely ignored the drawing board. After recovering, however, the old spirit was back again. Schreurs revived Klepzeiker and started painting, and the book 'Strange Flesh' was a catalogue of his paintings. The exposition 'Fresh Strange Flesh' at Galerie Lambiek testified to the artistic fertility of this new phase. The exposition was on display during October 2000 at Galerie Lambiek. In 2002, Eric Schreurs received the prestigious Stripschapsprijs, the coveted Dutch comic artist award.