"At first, I used to draw
almost exclusively in soft pastels, whose subtle tones, delicacy and luminosity
seemed to be perfectly adapted to the intimate world of my pictures. Having
learnt to make my own sticks of pastel from pigments, I can get extremely close
to the tints and consistencies that suit me best.
There is nothing premeditated about
my work. It is the fruit of a daily involvement in painting and drawing. I am
in a sense the observer of my own activity and sometimes only understand what I
have done much later. Over the years a number of themes have emerged and
evolved.
The origins of my first
pictures are to be found in the interior world of my studio: simple, everyday
objects, some of which just happened to be there, others were brought in on a
whim or were the result of discoveries made in the course of the work: candles,
jackets hung on a nail, pieces of cloth, tables... Although I have always been
drawn to representation, my intention has never been to copy exactly what I
see, but rather to make an expressive work, independent of its sources. Fundamentally
the real subject of my ‘corners of the studio’ is silence, solitude, and
beauty, emanating from the objects, perceptible only when you watch and wait. The
cold Belgian light is an important element, bringing with it something
mysterious, a kind of nostalgia.
Mirrors occur frequently in my
compositions. I have always very much liked to see reality reflected, creating
the illusion of another possible world, another reality close at hand. I have
gradually developed the idea of using mirrors like windows, or like a picture
within a picture, a link with abstraction: a deregulated space in the heart of
the demanding environment of figurative painting."
