Martien Van Beeck
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Martien Van Beeck (Belgium, 1957) is an artist trained as a painter and photographer in the early ‘80s. For the past fifteen years he has mainly been painting and drawing and making graphic art. The drypoint etchings together with paintings, form an ongoing series of artworks exploring the theme of ‘Vanitas’. The ‘Vanitas’ series is one of a few series he is working on. Some series like ‘Cathedrals’ or ‘Clouds’ are completed, other series like ‘Aphorisms’ and ‘Constellations’ are ongoing. In each series Martien has slightly different approaches towards art-historical theme’s and styles. Thanks to Francis Picabia we know that we are free to explore art in whatever direction we think suitable.
In the ‘vanitas’ series he tries to ‘marry’ playfulness and seriousness. The animal skulls that are represented in his art, for example, are ‘serious and darkly romantic’, but at the same time the skulls are beautiful and expressive. The drypoint etchings are referential towards this big theme that ‘vanitas’ is, but often there is also some mockery going on. In the drypoint of two skulls #12, for example, each shadow cast by one of the two skulls, forms a new anamorphic image of a skull, not unlike the distorted skull in the painting ‘The Ambassadors’ by Holbein. ‘Skull #13; Medusa and heads turned to stone’ plays with the visual similarities between fingers holding a skull and a hideous head with snakes.
Martien thinks art is, above all, about sharing ideas and experiences, mediated through an artistic artefact, resulting in some understanding between artist and public on an intellectual, esthetic level. Through art we establish complex connections between past and present, abstract and concrete, thinking and feeling. For Martien, making art is what makes life worth living.
In the ‘vanitas’ series he tries to ‘marry’ playfulness and seriousness. The animal skulls that are represented in his art, for example, are ‘serious and darkly romantic’, but at the same time the skulls are beautiful and expressive. The drypoint etchings are referential towards this big theme that ‘vanitas’ is, but often there is also some mockery going on. In the drypoint of two skulls #12, for example, each shadow cast by one of the two skulls, forms a new anamorphic image of a skull, not unlike the distorted skull in the painting ‘The Ambassadors’ by Holbein. ‘Skull #13; Medusa and heads turned to stone’ plays with the visual similarities between fingers holding a skull and a hideous head with snakes.
Martien thinks art is, above all, about sharing ideas and experiences, mediated through an artistic artefact, resulting in some understanding between artist and public on an intellectual, esthetic level. Through art we establish complex connections between past and present, abstract and concrete, thinking and feeling. For Martien, making art is what makes life worth living.
Martien Van Beeck (Belgium, 1957) is an artist trained as a painter and photographer in the early ‘80s. For the past fifteen years he has mainly been painting and drawing and making graphic art. The drypoint etchings together with paintings, form an ongoing series of artworks exploring the theme of ‘Vanitas’. The ‘Vanitas’ series is one of a few series he is working on. Some series like ‘Cathedrals’ or ‘Clouds’ are completed, other series like ‘Aphorisms’ and ‘Constellations’ are ongoing. In each series Martien has slightly different approaches towards art-historical theme’s and styles. Thanks to Francis Picabia we know that we are free to explore art in whatever direction we think suitable.
In the ‘vanitas’ series he tries to ‘marry’ playfulness and seriousness. The animal skulls that are represented in his art, for example, are ‘serious and darkly romantic’, but at the same time the skulls are beautiful and expressive. The drypoint etchings are referential towards this big theme that ‘vanitas’ is, but often there is also some mockery going on. In the drypoint of two skulls #12, for example, each shadow cast by one of the two skulls, forms a new anamorphic image of a skull, not unlike the distorted skull in the painting ‘The Ambassadors’ by Holbein. ‘Skull #13; Medusa and heads turned to stone’ plays with the visual similarities between fingers holding a skull and a hideous head with snakes.
Martien thinks art is, above all, about sharing ideas and experiences, mediated through an artistic artefact, resulting in some understanding between artist and public on an intellectual, esthetic level. Through art we establish complex connections between past and present, abstract and concrete, thinking and feeling. For Martien, making art is what makes life worth living.
In the ‘vanitas’ series he tries to ‘marry’ playfulness and seriousness. The animal skulls that are represented in his art, for example, are ‘serious and darkly romantic’, but at the same time the skulls are beautiful and expressive. The drypoint etchings are referential towards this big theme that ‘vanitas’ is, but often there is also some mockery going on. In the drypoint of two skulls #12, for example, each shadow cast by one of the two skulls, forms a new anamorphic image of a skull, not unlike the distorted skull in the painting ‘The Ambassadors’ by Holbein. ‘Skull #13; Medusa and heads turned to stone’ plays with the visual similarities between fingers holding a skull and a hideous head with snakes.
Martien thinks art is, above all, about sharing ideas and experiences, mediated through an artistic artefact, resulting in some understanding between artist and public on an intellectual, esthetic level. Through art we establish complex connections between past and present, abstract and concrete, thinking and feeling. For Martien, making art is what makes life worth living.
Martien Van Beeck (Belgium, 1957) is an artist trained as a painter and photographer in the early ‘80s. For the past fifteen years he has mainly been painting and drawing and making graphic art. The drypoint etchings together with paintings, form an ongoing series of artworks exploring the theme of ‘Vanitas’. The ‘Vanitas’ series is one of a few series he is working on. Some series like ‘Cathedrals’ or ‘Clouds’ are completed, other series like ‘Aphorisms’ and ‘Constellations’ are ongoing. In each series Martien has slightly different approaches towards art-historical theme’s and styles. Thanks to Francis Picabia we know that we are free to explore art in whatever direction we think suitable.
In the ‘vanitas’ series he tries to ‘marry’ playfulness and seriousness. The animal skulls that are represented in his art, for example, are ‘serious and darkly romantic’, but at the same time the skulls are beautiful and expressive. The drypoint etchings are referential towards this big theme that ‘vanitas’ is, but often there is also some mockery going on. In the drypoint of two skulls #12, for example, each shadow cast by one of the two skulls, forms a new anamorphic image of a skull, not unlike the distorted skull in the painting ‘The Ambassadors’ by Holbein. ‘Skull #13; Medusa and heads turned to stone’ plays with the visual similarities between fingers holding a skull and a hideous head with snakes.
Martien thinks art is, above all, about sharing ideas and experiences, mediated through an artistic artefact, resulting in some understanding between artist and public on an intellectual, esthetic level. Through art we establish complex connections between past and present, abstract and concrete, thinking and feeling. For Martien, making art is what makes life worth living.
In the ‘vanitas’ series he tries to ‘marry’ playfulness and seriousness. The animal skulls that are represented in his art, for example, are ‘serious and darkly romantic’, but at the same time the skulls are beautiful and expressive. The drypoint etchings are referential towards this big theme that ‘vanitas’ is, but often there is also some mockery going on. In the drypoint of two skulls #12, for example, each shadow cast by one of the two skulls, forms a new anamorphic image of a skull, not unlike the distorted skull in the painting ‘The Ambassadors’ by Holbein. ‘Skull #13; Medusa and heads turned to stone’ plays with the visual similarities between fingers holding a skull and a hideous head with snakes.
Martien thinks art is, above all, about sharing ideas and experiences, mediated through an artistic artefact, resulting in some understanding between artist and public on an intellectual, esthetic level. Through art we establish complex connections between past and present, abstract and concrete, thinking and feeling. For Martien, making art is what makes life worth living.
