I want to be happy.

Life is boring or it is suffering interrupted every now and then by a moment of happiness, said Schopenhauer. I like that thought, even if it puts all in an extreme perspective; that is what it is all about.

So where to find these moments of happiness? Here I follow Schopenhauer as well.

It is to be found in the arts (for Schopenhauer this is the real knowledge; I like that too, seen the fact that I like to paint). When painting works, I fall in between time and space. I feel like not existing anymore. Everything falls away. I am being led instead of me trying to force things.

These are big words, but I cannot find another way to explain it.

And I experienced some of these moments while making the painting of the last blog (made in a period when my mother was dying).

These moments have nothing to do with making progress (in painting). These moments occur and are moments of total happiness.

An other work? Subject and painting technique wise:

Le Sacre du Printemps

oil on canvas

100 x 90 cm

2012 

Not so long ago a friend of mine asked why I paint…

The question seems an easy one, but when I start to think of an answer…

I wrote some blogs about painting; what excites me in a specific work. But this is the BIG question. In a coming series (of short texts) I will make an attempt. This is nº 1:

Ok, what to do with the hours one spends in this body on earth… I have energy to spend, but on what?

Long ago I experienced that I like to paint.

In the beginning it was one of the many possible roads to take.

I graduated as a furniture maker. I thought about studying chemistry. But painting was more fun.

At an early age I realized that it doesn’t really matter what one chooses, what matters is that once chosen, the game is to dig deep and deeper.

After 35 years as a professional painter, I see I was right.

Looking back, it doesn’t mean that all my paintings made before last year are minor works.

To illustrate, I show a work made in 1990. It is in a private collection in New York.

‘The three brothers’

oil on canvas

This blog is about the ‘art hysteria sketches’.

Why did I start to make these sketches? It has to do with my appreciation for also the ‘old’ art’.  I have never really felt that I should rebel against the old masters, because the idea of old and new does not realty exist for me.

What is ‘good art’? Instead of seeing and judging from the creator’s point of view (or the view of the art historian, who wants to label in a time related way), for me a piece of art is ‘good’, if it gives a positive emotion to a now present spectator. 

So Rembrandt’s paintings are contemporary art, see the success of his latest shows…

To give this opinion a physical shape, I started to put images, made of paintings (and other) I admire or that fascinate me, in one work. The obvious example: Vincent van Gogh in the same work with Mona Lisa.

As an extra, I made these sketches in 3D.

Why? For the fun of it and to give food for thought.

See:  

http://www.bertvanzelm.com/home?page=2&collection=8

Last week the portraits of Jessica and Adam arrived at their home.

I love to paint portraits. It is the ultimate challenge.

One has to be humble, the portrait has to look like the person and transmit soul (love the Italian word for it: ‘anima’).

At the same time it has to be a painting, which means not a photographic interpretation.

Art is communication and in the case of a portrait from the side of the commissioner his or her role is more than just the usual appreciation of how I work. There has to be a balance between ‘my soul and way of working’ and ‘the soul of the victim’.

See the latest portraits: 

http://www.bertvanzelm.com/object?object=131

One walks on two legs. Flower - and bull paintings, they might seem the opposite in the way I paint them. I need both. Let’s look at this one (go to http://www.bertvanzelm.com/object?object=128).

Bull 066. The late Rembrandt, the late Goya guide me. These guys really help, even if photography did not exist yet, they went for a painterly solution. I used to say that I want to paint like throwing an elephant through a keyhole from a reasonable distance. This one might get near… The secret is in the detail, the brush stroke. Organized chaos.

A painting is not a photo, is not science, it is the rest.

Want to know more? Go to the interview with the newspaper of 10-03-2015 on this blog.

I was interviewed by Nicole Millar for the newspaper tv channel Le Punt/Avui+ on March 8, 2015. The interview was totally improvised. It gives a good idea of my work. 

This painting started much bigger. I wanted to combine different themes that fascinate me: the human body and flowers (as in ‘Flower Man’). And I wanted to mix the different styles of painting.

Unfortunately this painting fell in two parts. The flowers next to the woman did not play an inevitable or mysterious enough role. And that is what counts. A painting should tell a story, maybe not a story that can be told with words, but it has to have a tight meaning, it has to feel right.

I was (and am) especially satisfied with the way the face and arms of the woman are painted. It is a way of painting that I have developed over the years. A painting is a painting and thus should here follow its own logic too. No photographic resemblance should be obtained.

But then those flowers… In the end I cut that part and extra out to find a new balance and to sober up the work.

Balance is a thing I am much concentrated on lately (that is also why I like the painting of Rembrandt: ‘Woman with ostrich feather fan’ so much. The balance between her face and hands is magic).

In ‘The Mirror’ I made the woman wear a bra, but no under pants. This gives the painting a sensual tension, also due to the fact that the lower part of her body is in the shade.                           

Things like these can keep me ‘from the street’ for weeks…

You find the painting under 'others' on the site.

I was in the Netherlands for work and went to see the Rembrandt show for the third time… You might say that I am a fan... This time I was able to see the paintings a lot better. In Amsterdam luckily they have hung them in a bigger space. There is room!

If you have plans to see the show, go at 9.00! Till 11.00 it is still possible to see the works without an Ice-hockey suit and kalashnikov!

I have been studying his works over the years. You discover so much more when you copy them. Here is one of my copies.

Between 2002 and 2005 I made a series of sketches with Esmeralda as the model. The sketches were small in size and executed in black and white. All through the years I have worked with many models. Esmeralda (amongst a couple of others, let’s not forget!) was a great inspiration. Almost all works are sold…