Music (1991)
Maurice Vellekoop was born in 1964 in suburban Toronto. A true child of the TV age, he was raised on a steady diet of supernatural sitcoms, Japanese monster movies and Ross Hunter melodramas. The youngest of four children, Vellekoop was encouraged to draw from an early age. He attended the Ontario College of Art from 1982 to 1986. He joined Reactor Art and Design studio soon after graduating and has been illustrating for major magazines, book publishers and ad agencies ever since. Through Reactor, he also released his comics zines Fear Comics and Guilt Comics.
Vellekoop is best known for his colorful illustration work, which always bears the mark of his sensible light touch. His equally elegant and heart-warming comics appear mostly in the pages of Drawn & Quarterly magazine, which has introduced many fine Canadian comix artists. Editorial clients include The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Wallpaper, Out Magzine, Mother Jones and Fashion. He has illustrated books for Harper Collins and Universe/Rizzoli. His work has appeared in American Illustration and was included in 'Stylishly Drawn' by Laird Borrelli, a book on contemporary fashion Illustration published by Harry N. Abrams.
The World of Gloria Badcock
Drawn & Quarterly published an anthology of Vellekoop's comics called 'Vellevision' in 1997. The publisher also released 'A Nut At The Opera' (2006), a hilarious satire of the colorful characters who make up the opera world. Vellekoop has furthermore made concept sketches for an opera production of Handel's 'Acis and Galatea'. His gay erotica artwork has appeared in books like 'ABC Book: A Homoerotic Primer' (Gates of Heck, 1997) and 'Pin-ups' (Green Candy Press, 2008). One of his regular characters, sexually liberated magazine editrix Gloria Badcock, returned in 'The World of Gloria Badcock', a joyous comic book about sexual freedom which was published by Koyama Press in 2011. Vellekoop has also made the illustrations for Patricia Payne's book 'Sex Tips from a Dominatrix' in 1999.
Maurice Vellekoop's work has been shown numerous times at the Reactor Gallery in Toronto, and also in collective exhibitions at the Mayor gallery in London and in a traveling show called 'New Pop'. He had his first solo European show at Twenty Twenty Two in Manchester, England, in 2014.
