LIFECYCLE
I have worked almost in silence for 60 years, without interruption, devoting myself to my art through numerous exhibitions, including international ones, of paintings, objects and installations.
A Roman military road ran behind our house through the fields and, as a child, I often played in the ditch there: splashing about barefoot in flowing water that was, back then, incredibly clear, teeming with beetles, newts and other aquatic creatures.
My childhood world was a marvellous world of romping about with silly little lambs, fetching water from the spring and admiring the wares displayed by a rag-and-bone man at the old village school, who sat in a ditch and possessed such fascinating, colourful children’s watches and beautiful little rings, which you could buy for a bag of rags.
Perhaps this atmosphere has been the starting point for my art; reconstructing what I experienced, felt, observed and dreamed – in short, writing down memories in my own childlike, free visual language: capturing a trace in and of time.
In doing so, parts of reality are transformed into a language of my own signs—calligraphic, hieroglyphic or fragmentary—and assembled into a collage-like composition. Over time, my work became internalised and gave form to my deepest self and its relationship with the environment, often psychologically charged, childishly concise in imagery, and at times autobiographical. These are images of an unreal reality, that which plays out in the mind.
The latest phase of my work depicts endangered worlds: fragmentary, dissolving, a reality torn to shreds. The intact world of humanity, bound between animal and nature, is disappearing due to encroaching urbanisation and traffic. Interpersonal relationships, too, are crumbling and changing. Everything is becoming fleeting.
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.