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Painter René Jansen is a true ‘North of Holland Guy’, which is clearly noticeable by his unmatched, Groningen accent. He was born in the city of ‘Peerd van Ome Loeks’. Jansen has always remained faithful to his roots: after completing his art education at the Groningen Academy of Minerva, he is currently living in the village of Kiel-Windeweer. . As an artist, René Jansen has experienced a remarkable development in recent years: after having been focusing exclusively on still life for years, he has switched to painting models, preferring a select group of ladies with striking hair dresses, constantly inspiring him into new masterpieces. He presents his new muses to us during the exhibition ‘Myths and Muses’, which will be shown in gallery Wildevuur until December 10th.
Atelier as a retreat for the stilled life
During the first decades of his artist career, René Jansen developed himself as a renowned painter of still life. His studio, where the countless objects, despite the apparent chaos, all had their place and order, acted as a retreat where he could escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life to focus entirely on capturing his silent objects.
Of course, he still changed his still life with a landscape or living model, with which he occasionally also faced the mirror. His paintings are covered by their almost tangible atmosphere and by the application of increasingly thick layers of paint. Behind his compositions lies a well thought out process. Each painting is made up of several layers: first the seen is put on the canvas, in wide generous strokes, which gives a semi-transparent impression. Over this, the painted subjects, landscapes or models are built on a layered basis, as long as the master is completely satisfied with the result. Here and there, the first layer remains visible, creating an exciting interaction between the precision-elaborated elements and the roughened surfaces. Due to the thickness of some paint layers, there is an almost three dimensional effect, because the bright light is reflected on the edges of the widely applied paint layers.
Kill your darlings
After turning to his still life for decades, René Jansen increasingly felt that he was repeating himself. A standstill also means an artist's deterioration, so it became time to take a new path.
Self René Jansen says about his creative transformation: “Painting is a process. And then I'm not just talking about a making process, but also about a certain development. Every artist sometimes goes back to the fact that he is repeating himself to a greater or lesser degree. Repetition, but especially routine, are eventually deadly. I have painted a lot of still life in the past. I found that fantastic to do and it also suits me very well, but gradually it stagnated. So it was time to, as the writer William Faulkner expressed it so beautifully: “to kill your darlings”. What matters as much as: leave the old and trusted, and open your mind for something new.”
Eva, Jessica and Clementia
The direction he was looking for was initially on his path in the form of female beauty. For some time, he felt the urge to draw again. That the urge suddenly came up, had a clear reason, or actually two reasons; Eva and Jessica. According to Jansen, both splendors came walking into his life out of nothing. Eva met him during one of his workshops. Upon entry, she immediately struck him by her beautiful dreadlocks. She later developed into his fixed model. Jessica was the second muse, which he accidentally ran into. Jessica also comes from Kiel Windeweer, the village where René Jansen lives and works. Her beautiful red hair and appearance made his painter's blood flow faster. Jessica has since been extinct in drawings and paintings ever since. Unfortunately, she painted her hair in the meantime blue-purple, but René fortunately still has enough photo’s with her original fiery hair color. Or maybe he'll do something else with that blue-purple hair. Finally, Jessica is just Jessica, and the color of her hair does not matter.
The drawings of René Jansen is an integral part of the exhibition. These drawings are so important because they are the starting point for the paintings. Therefore, according to Jansen, they must not be missing. He considers the sketches and paintings of ‘Myths and Muses’ as the most personal work he has done so far.
The direction he was looking for was initially on his path in the form of female beauty. For some time, he felt the urge to draw again. That the urge suddenly came up, had a clear reason, or actually two reasons; Eva and Jessica. According to Jansen, both splendors came walking into his life out of nothing. Eva met him during one of his workshops. Upon entry, she immediately struck him by her beautiful dreadlocks. She later developed into his fixed model. Jessica was the second muse, which he accidentally ran into. Jessica also comes from Kiel Windeweer, the village where René Jansen lives and works. Her beautiful red hair and appearance made his painter's blood flow faster. Jessica has since been extinct in drawings and paintings ever since. Unfortunately, she painted her hair in the meantime blue-purple, but René fortunately still has enough photo’s with her original fiery hair color. Or maybe he'll do something else with that blue-purple hair. Finally, Jessica is just Jessica, and the color of her hair does not matter.
The drawings of René Jansen is an integral part of the exhibition. These drawings are so important because they are the starting point for the paintings. Therefore, according to Jansen, they must not be missing. He considers the sketches and paintings of ‘Myths and Muses’ as the most personal work he has done so far.
Do you also want to meet Eva, Jessica and Clementia? In this case, we would like to invite you to ‘Myths and Muses’ with the latest works by René Jansen, in collaboration with sculptor Marion Visione. The exhibition will be open until December 10 in gallery Wildevuur on the Hiemstra Estate.
