Lifecycle
Worked almost in silence for 60 years, continuously, dedicated to my art with frequent exhibitions, including internationally, of paintings, objects and installations
Curriculum
1942 Born in Kleine-Spouwen (Limburg), Belgium
1966-1970 Residence in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles.
1970 Back in Belgium.
1970-72 Painting and drawing at the Academie Hasselt, Belgium under the guidance of R. Vandereycken.
1977-82 Painting and drawing at the Academy in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium under the guidance of H. De Volder and V. Neels. Sculpture with H. Tersago.
1989-1997 Residence in Tötensen, Hamburg, Germany.
1990-2001 Member of the " Seevetaler Künstler" Hittfeld, Germany
1990 participation in the summer academy Pentiment in Hamburg, Germany
1997 back in Belgium.
2001- Member of the: Royal Wase Art Circle, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
2007 participation in "Artists in Residence", Isernhagen-Burgwedel, Hanover, Germany
2009- Member of the Royal Piet Staut Circle Beveren, Belgium
2016 Member of "Rainforest Art Foundation Europe"
2018 Award of the "Red Line Art Works Award 2017"
Meet Gabriëlla in her studio >>
My vision on art
Today, painters do not work anymore according to nature – making sketches takes too long, so we have to be happy with photos. But then of course you run the risk of just making a copy of a photo. I encounter many on the internet, which technically can turn out pretty nice, but it is not art to me. It is rather métier. In art, the first step is interpretation, or a total transformation, meaning an indoctrination or transformation by the mind. During this process, unconscious elements creep into the work that give it its appeal and inner layeredness. Modern art, then, often works with images that are illustrations of a meaning that wishes to be expressed. This has been salonfähig for a while, but it does not do much for me. It is too cerebral for me. I experience it rather like a good find. Just a kick from momentary recognition and that’s all. Really creating a work is still a few steps further. And then controlling it, making it aesthetic and getting it across to the viewer is still a little bit more. I see parallels with film.
An artist can also work in a very puzzling manner, when he has created his own language and uses it to talk to his audience. It is a kind of alphabet that has to be mastered and learnt before the work can be deciphered in all its fullness to penetrate into the world of the other. The same goes for my virtual worlds. And that is not always possible. Everyone has his own unique projections from his own background or world. And in a work, there are so many threads under the surface, so many unconscious symbols that it allows something to escape from its being only for a captivated viewer, laying its layerednessbare. It is like language, not only are the spoken words of importance, but also the intonation and the unconscious body language.
That is why it is not always advisable to explain the work. For a viewer, it can mean another world, from his own background, and such understanding must be possible; it is richness in abundance and diversity.