Today, I want to take you on a trip…
A trip that starts on top of the dunes nearby my hometown.
When you walk on the path that leads over the dunes, you can look down at
the beach. And the sea. And the wooden wave breakers.
As a child, I played on this beach and the wave breakers are also very typical
for this part of the Netherlands (Zeeland)
The above image is a photo.
You saw that, didn’t you?
..
..
But what do you think this next picture is?
(ZEEUWS LICHT II * 2002 * 244 x 167 cm)
It is a painting!!!
…
Yes, seriously… this is a painting of the rocks between the wave breakers!
It is made by an artist from Zeeland – Johnny Beerens – and this image doesn’t
show how special his art work is… he uses all kinds of materials to get this
effect and when you look at his work in real life you almost can’t believe what
you see!!! His art really is breathtaking!!!
Another painting:
(TERRA DI SENNA * 2003-2004 * 242 x 142 cm)
Johnny Beerens: “Layer upon layer I build my paintings. I put on the paint
and scrape and sand the paint away again. I mix different materials such
as sand, crushed glass, marble powder, shells and grit into the paint.”
This artist works on BIG canvases and self-made paper (see the sizes !) but I
can show you even bigger work of him!
Look at this…
LEVENSBRON ("life source") * Oostburg * 1995* Height tower 55 meter
This is a water tower in Oostburg, Zeeland and Johnny painted the crack
and the waterdrops, as if the tower leaks…
..
He worked
on this while
standing
high above
the ground
on a scaffold
that hangs
from steel
cables
..
..
..
..
And here
you see
he paints
reflections
in the
water drops.
One drop
depicts
the artist
himself!
..
And how did I get the idea to show you all this?
Well, Johnny Beerens had a exhibition in recent months in Zeeland, where
my parents still live, and I was determined to visit them AND the exhibition.
I visited an exhibition of this artist a few years ago and I was speechless…
and I did want to go look at his work again because the images on postcards
and websites never show the marvelous dimension he puts in his work
BUT
I had the dates all wrong.
Ouch!
I thought I had until July to go to his exhibition, but it ends this weekend.
My aunt send me a postcard of his work last week – she and my uncle had
spend an afternoon at the exhibition – and now that I can’t go myself I thought
of giving this artist some attention on my weblog!
I had quite a hard time choosing which paintings I should show here, it is all
breathtaking (I know, I know, I’m sentimental because his paintings show the
landscape of my youth, but still….. it IS marvelous!)
I leave you with the link to his website and I do recommend you hop over
there and take a look! His website is in Dutch only, but for you English-
speaking friends: I translated some of the titles so you should be able to find
your way to his galleries.
This is how his website looks like and if you click on the little images on the
left, you will be linked to the gallery.
So what are you waiting for?
Go visit Johnny Beerens!
Je t’embrasse!