Emiel Jean Jacques Declercq has expressed himself throughout his life through different forms of art. First through street photography and music, playing the guitar, piano or tenor saxophone, and in more recent years, through mainly oil based painting. He sees these forms of art as a carefully improvised back and forth conversation between the medium and his inner self, with a third observer, searching for meaning in an abstract reality. By abstracting his art, influenced by Piet Mondriaan, he tries to reach for a more profound sense of reality, beyond what we tend to perceive on a first glance in our daily lives.
Although his art might seem to create dramatic scenes, it must be seen as a far reaching gratitude for a human experience, following the Stoic idea of Amor Fati (Love for one’s Fate). His art is a testament to upholding this promise he made over three years ago after a near death traffic accident.
“For 10 seconds I was dragged along under that truck’s tire ... I couldn’t do anything ... only think about my whole life”
To him, every layer of paint represents a memory with passion, nostalgia, gratitude and tension, expressed through usage of texture, applied energy and form. All these memories flow together on the canvas, influencing each other by appearing unexpectedly back to the foreground using planned coincidences inspired by Jackson Pollock.
“when I have an exceptional paint session, I will never let it dry fully, this is when I use quick-dry acrylic paint so I can let the oil paint come through like strong memories in new experiences.” Next to painting, his study in Urban Sciences and his passion for street photography helps him capture this temporal fourth dimension of memories and feelings within the experience of “The stranger” passing in a three dimensional space.
“if I can make at least one person shed a nostalgic tear, followed by a subtle smile, my purpose is fulfilled.”
Emiel Jean Jacques is an emerging artist, located in Brussels, Belgium. At 23 years old, he is finalizing his first Masters degree in Urban Studies, with a focus on “Art and the City”. After which he will continue with a masters degree in the Fine Arts.
He is fascinated by connectivity of “the Individual” and “the Art”, in this way, Vincent van Gogh and Jean-Michel Basquiat are his main influences. Furthermore, Piet Mondriaan and Jackson Pollock are major influences on the abstraction of reality.
In addition to painting, Emiel is a multi-instrumentalist, playing the guitar, piano, tenor saxophone, and singing. He has discovered the power and necessity of artistic expression through music and improvisation. He also practices street photography, which he uses to capture memories and ideas for further development on the canvas.
