An Ocean in Between the Waves: Gert Motmans

About

Gert Motmans (b. Hasselt Belgium) graduated from the fashion department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp where he still lives and works as a visual artist and fashion designer. Motmans work balances between figurative and abstract complexity and a deceitful simplicity. The fragile works seem to feed on romanticism as well as minimalism. The artist puts his identity personality personal experiences and dreams first in his art in which landscapes and male figures are recurring themes. Motmans is a craftsman. He often chooses to work with analog techniques and to develop his images in the darkroom. He works with materials such as handmade Japanese paper or weathered / yellowed papers he finds in vintage stocks. In this way he breathes new life into traditional techniques and old materials. In itself a very cherishing gesture. It seems as if the artist wants to protect things from the future. Motmans exhibited with galleries such as Deuss Gallery & Ibasho Gallery in Antwerp Galerie Esther Woerdehoff in Paris and at art fairs such as Paris Photo Unseen Amsterdam Art Paris and Art Antwerp.