I paint and draw animals, people and sometimes landscapes. Animals interest me as painting objects, and I just love drawing them from life in the fields around me or painting them on a big scale
in my studio, which is in a converted dairy farm just north of Amsterdam. You can't find me happier than when painting a life size giant bull with huge brushes and broad strokes.
On a deeper level, the long standing and sometimes uncomfortable relationship between kept animals and humans keeps coming back in the work, whether I paint horses, donkeys, cows or apes. The
dependence of the beast upon us, and its trust, give us a huge responsibility. I'm not at all sure that we as humans always live up to our part of the deal. In most of my work this relationship
between humans and animals plays a role, sometimes overt, sometimes more in the background.
Drawing and painting living creatures from life is challenging and exciting. Animals move around, and this means that speed is important. I like the thrill of trying to get it right in one go,
but visible signs of searching for the right shapes are part of the work, too. The brushstroke is essential and I try to achieve the freshness of my life sketches in the larger studio paintings
as well.
At the moment, I'm working on a new series - "Idylle", to be shown at Museum Jan Boon in the Netherlands in June 2023.
An idyll is a kind of Utopia, not really existing in the here and now, but only briefly passing, or perhaps only there in memories and romantic wish-thinking.
I find myself returning to this kind of memory, real or imagined. I use pictures of the children when they were little and we were smallholding more than we do now, growing vegetables and livestock, an abundance of young animals and homegrown food. One tends to forget all the hard work, the tiredness, the deaths of animals, the moment of slaughter. Only the frolicking lambs remain. Of course, it is escapism. But don’t we all wish to escape reality every now and then?
FRESH OFF THE EASEL
April 1 - September 30 | Popup exhibition Waterlandse Kunstkring, Monnickendam |
April 22 - May 20 | "The female gaze", Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam |
May 6-28 | "Idylle", solo exhibition at Museum Jan Boon, De Rijp. Open Saturdays and Sundays 13-17h, I will be there. |
June 6 - October 15 | "Gunstige Wind", Waterlandsmuseum De Speeltoren (group installation) |
June 19 - 25 | Schilderfestival Noordwijk |
Philine van der Vegte, contemporary figurative artist, portrait painter, animal painter
Hoogedijk 40, 1145 pp Katwoude NL
philine@philinevandervegte.com
tel +31 634297557 (but I prefer mail or whatsapp)
VAT number NL 001997814B55, KvK 37147106